Run
by crooked-soul
Summary: Harry's been caught by Voldemort and sits locked away in a dank cell but Draco is determined to get him out of there for reasons Harry is not quite sure of -HPDM-
1. Chapter 1

****

Run

'Potter Vanished!'

The Daily Prophets headline flashed as it lay discarded on the kitchen table of 12 Grimmauld Place, the article smugly reporting that Harry Potter was believed to have run away being too much of a coward and a weakling to face the Dark Lord. Hermione had thrown it down in disgust that morning and those passing through the headquarters barely spared it a glance, they knew what had happened even if the wider wizarding world was being convinced of something else. Harry had been captured by the Death Eaters on one of the Orders small skirmishes to collect information, leaving everyone at a loss.

Without Harry they felt they didn't have the slightest chance of defeating Voldemort and his forces, a feeling of despair mixed with panic spread through the ranks as they tried frantically to organise an attempt at rescuing Harry based on the few small reports that Snape had managed to get through. He hadn't been killed yet at least, though Voldemort was apparently determined to see him suffer as much as possible before being forced to witness the destruction of everything he loved along with Voldemort's triumph over the entire wizarding world.

Only then would he be killed, for the meantime he was locked away in a dungeon of one of the more dismal and horrifyingly gothic pureblood mansions that Voldemort was fond of, a place that was of course crawling with wards and protective enchantments to make it impossible to find by any who weren't supposed to know. It was essentially under something similar to a fidelius charm but the magic involved was a lot darker and required a sacrifice of blood. Voldemort had used the blood of Susan Bones who had been caught along with Harry.

The Order knew that there was little or no hope of getting Harry out of there and whilst some had completely given up hope, others worked on tirelessly, if only to give themselves something to focus on other than their fate and the fate of their friend so that they wouldn't go mad with it all. Ron, Hermione and Remus were rarely seen away from the library of Grimmauld place, pouring over maps and spell books in order to at least narrow down the location or find a way of getting a message safely to Harry.

~&~

Lights flashed behind my eyes, burning reds and venomous greens, I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes and furiously tried to will the images away. It wasn't going to help going over and over the ambush in my head and trying to figure out where we had slipped up, reliving the panic and the screams wouldn't change the outcome, what should have been a relatively simple scouting mission with just a small group of 10 had turned into an unmitigated disaster.

I opened my eyes to stare at the dank walls I had become so familiar with over the past..however long it had been, between the bouts of torture, always with an audience of snickering bloodthirsty Death Eaters, and the thread of taunts from the guards not to mention the fact that my only source of light was the dull glow of a few torches outside the door, it was a little difficult to keep track of time. The light that shone feebly through the small grate at the top of the door flickered suddenly making the shadows on the wall seem to come alive, _one of the guards must be moving around,_ I was sitting huddled in one of the corners of my prison cell, my position defensive but I kept my gaze alert and swift, tracking the movements of the guards at least provided some distraction.

As far as my estimations went the guards should be switching any minute now as they had grown mostly bored of taunting me after receiving no response and each shift only seemed to last a small amount of time after the insults faded, depending on who it was guarding. Some of them I knew, others I didn't but I had come to recognise all of their voices, even their weight of their footsteps to a certain degree, one of the small benefits of being locked away like this was that my hearing seemed to have sharpened dramatically and it was rare now that anyone could take me by surprise. It was the best defense I had at the moment.

Being in here was quite an education actually, I had even learnt pretty quickly that all my Gryffindor instincts would not exactly get me far in this situation so I had been working on my Slytherin cunning instead. A few powers that had backfired into me on Voldemort's downfall were not enough to completely alter my personality so the Sorting Hat must have seen something in me to make it so adamant that Slytherin was where I belonged and I intended to use my abilities to the full to get the hell out of this place.

At the moment I was just compiling information in my head on the alertness of the guards, which of them underestimated me or just couldn't care less if I lived or died, even apathy might work to my advantage as it was always fanatics who were the most dangerous. There were also a few who seemed to have been pulled into Voldemort's ranks through fear rather than belief and one particular guard almost seemed to sympathise with me as they never taunted me and in fact without even saying anything managed to make whoever they were guarding with be quieter too. I always enjoyed the time that they were on guard the most, if you can call it enjoyment, but at least during those hours I managed to get some sleep. In fact that particular 'silent guard' as I had dubbed them often nagged at my thoughts, they spoke so rarely and so softly I could barely hear them at all, if I ever managed to get out I began to hope they might hesitate just long enough that I could get away safely.

It was for this opportunity, if it ever came, that I had started to practice my wandless magic, it was still weak but I was slowly learning how to control it and it wasn't as if I lacked the time to practice, I just had to be careful that the small increases in my magic didn't attract the attention of any of the guards. The focus that it took and the determination to improve and be ready to take any opportunity that might come my way in the future kept my spirit fighting, I didn't fear death but I had something to live for, I had a goal that was pure in its intention and knowing that kept me alive in a way that Voldemort would never be able to truly comprehend.

Besides, I'm far too stubborn to just let him break me, the Dursleys were good for something after all, they taught me endurance and now I can't wait to stare Voldemort in the eye and watch his distaste when I _don't _flinch. A sly, almost malicious smile seemed to creep onto my face in the darkness and I only had a moment to feel vaguely disturbed before the distant sound of footsteps dragged my attention back to my surroundings. My muscles automatically tensed as I tried to determine who the guards were, I stilled my breathing to the point where it was inaudible even to me and closed my eyes to focus entirely on the sounds.

The first person, _a smug, eager stomp of heavy boots, _was undoubtedly Bellatrix forcing me to stifle a groan of annoyance, she always took the most pleasure from goading me and she always said the things that made it hardest to contain my anger. The second person was harder to discern because the steps were so soft I could hardly hear them under the noise that Bellatrix made but the fact that they were so quiet made me believe it was the sympathetic guard, the one I didn't know and my suspicions were confirmed when they got closer and I was able to make out the soft padding sound that usually accompanied them.

It was strange actually now that I thought about it, they had never been on guard with Bellatrix before, she was usually put with someone with a bit more force presumably to keep her under control at least to the degree that she didn't actually come into the cell and kill me. I wondered why things had suddenly changed and if things were likely to get changed around again, if they did then I would have to start my calculations all over again.

Luckily for me my current guards apparently weren't sure why things had been changed around either prompting Bellatrix to spout off bitterly about her usual partner being busy on an errand for her Lord, a job which she obviously wished she were able to do. The madness and the obssession with Voldemort that was so clear in her voice almost made me shudder in revolt.

I listened tensely as more footsteps signalled the retreat of the previous shift of guards and the scrape of a chair echoed softly as someone sat down, a few short steps warned me that Bellatrix's special brand of taunts were about to start as she came close to the door of my cell. I swiftly shut down all thoughts, forcing myself to go numb and unfeeling as I lost myself in the twisted lanes of my mind to block out what was happening around me, to block out the sound of her voice.

I had almost lost myself to this forced apathy when a soft drawling voice brought me sharply back to reality before Bellatrix had even started to speak.

"Sit down aunt, I'm not in the mood to listen to you taunt him for the next few hours, you know as well as I do that he stopped rising to your bait weeks ago so your nattering is just pointless."

"Well how about I spend my time teaching you to respect your elders instead?" she replied and I could hear the sneer in her voice.

"I know enough family secrets to be able to threaten you if I must so _sit down,_" the suppressed anger in his voice made me even more curious about who he was, he was practically defending me but he also said he was part of Bellatrix's family though that might not mean much considering how inbred the old pureblood families were, everyone was related to everyone in that twisted family tree.

"Fine," Bellatrix sighed and I heard the sounds of her slumping heavily into one of the chairs, "you Malfoys are so tetchy." _Malfoys? But I could already tell Lucius apart from the rest and this guy certainly wasn't him, in fact the only person it could be.._

"Shut up before I make you," an icy voice snapped,

_Draco. _

So Lucius' miniature had become a Death Eater after all, I always did wonder what had happened to him after we all left Hogwarts, if he had managed to avoid being pulled into Voldemorts ranks, _apparently not_. Well that made things considerably more interesting, did the little snake think he was doing me a favour by not taunting me? Merlin knows he never seemed unwilling to goad me back at Hogwarts, in fact he took every opportunity he could get to lash out at me so why was he suddenly so quiet in his dislike?

My head swirled with confusion and whilst I would have usually taken advantage of the quiet to rest my aching body that cramped up so often because it was repeatedly subjected to Crucio I found myself completely unable to relax. The fact that it was Malfoy who had been giving me brief moments of respite disturbed me more than I would have thought it would, I wondered whether being in Voldemorts service had changed him at all, whether he had grown out of being the schoolyard bully. _Not likely, _I thought scornfully, _if anything he's probably become more sadistic, he's probably just building up to something, playing to some bigger long-term plan to torment me._

I sat there for what felt like hours just running through all the ways Malfoy might be trying to get at me, all the ways that he could use my reliance on the few hours of quiet against me but every time I thought I understood it, it all became so convoluted that it seemed ridiculous. Bellatrix made a few biting comments every now and then but Malfoy managed to shut her up again every time to my relief and then I realised that I was feeling faint gratitude towards him, which just seemed entirely wrong, sparking off more and more theories as to what he was up to.

At some point my mental rambling were interrupted when I heard Malfoy speaking again after having clearly become irritated with the exaggerated sighs that Bellatrix had become prone too now that she was deprived of her favourite sport, Potter-baiting.

"Why don't you go and see if Rodolphus has come back from his mission yet? I'm more than capable of handling Potter on my own aunt and you know as well as I do how many enchantments are on his door to stop him getting out, I doubt there will be any problem and quite frankly you're annoying me" I blinked in vague surprise, this was about the most I'd heard Malfoy say since I was but in this god-forsaken cell.

"Oh fine, but if our Lord isn't pleased remember that it will be your head on the chopping-block _boy_"

"I rather think both of our heads will be on the chopping-block if he found out, which is why your not going to tell anyone and why you're going to be back here before the end of our shift"

"Well why should I leave at all then if it will only get me into trouble?" I almost snorted at how petulant and childish she sounded

"Because," Malfoy began tersely, "I know full well how much you want to hear all the gory details first-hand from your husband and I really am sick of listening to you, this way both of us are happy"

"Sure, sure, I wonder what you will do when I'm away though, do you have a secret card up your sleeve Draco? A way of getting to baby Potter?" her voice actually went up a couple octaves in excitement.

"Maybe" he replied icily and all of my fears returned twofold.

"Ooh, well have fun little nephew" her cackles echoed down the corridor as I heard the footsteps signalling her departure, I waited in frozen silence, my breath coming in short gasps as I realised I was entirely alone with Malfoy now.

"Potter?" his voice sounded oddly soft and hesitant and my eyes involuntarily widened in the dark, "I know you can hear me Potter, you've got to listen to me, there isn't that long before she comes back." I made a small noise that was could be translated as assent to listen to him, "Good," he sounded relieved and I once again wondered what the hell he was up to, "I'm going to get you out of here Potter" my heart thudded in disbelief and I slowly shifted closer to the door.

"What?"

**This is just a really random idea that i thought of over christmas and haven't had the chance to write until now, I'm going to try and finish it in about 10 chapters at the most I think, anyway let me know what you think, I'm not sure if its a great start or not ~xx~**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Why would I be stupid enough to believe you Malfoy?" I sneered, expecting to prompt an angry response that would at least be something familiar to me, something that I would feel relatively comfortable with because this side of Malfoy was just utterly freaking me out, he was supposed to want me dead not help me escape. This new Malfoy just made me nervous and unsure, a feeling I was distinctly uncomfortable with in my current situation where knowledge of my surroundings was the only defence I had. However life rarely goes the way I want it to, in fact life is a spiteful little bugger that generally does the exact opposite of what I want so it was almost logical that Malfoy continued in a softly urgent voice.

"You can't be here Potter, you _shouldn't _be here, things just aren't supposed to be this way. You're supposed to be out there being the stupid little hero like always and as its near impossible for your little friends to be able to get you out themselves given how many enchantments are on this place, I'm simply going to have to do it myself." I blinked, trying to process the way that his slightly mocking words contrasted with the underlying desperation in his voice.

"What the hell are you talking about Malfoy? You hate me, I would have though you'd be dancing for joy that I'm locked up in here as Voldemorts plaything," there was silence from his side of the door for a few minutes and though I hadn't heard him move I began to wonder if he had left somehow. I was almost startled when I heard a sigh stifled by the thickness of the door between us.

"Not everything revolves around you Potter, I want the bastard dead and apparently you're the one to do it so are you going to cooperate or not?" I hesitated for a moment, questions chasing each other round and round in my head, _had he really turned on Voldemort? Was this all some elaborate plot to break me? _In the end though I had to admit that if he really was telling the truth, if he really did want Voldemort dead then my chances of escaping had just gone up dramatically.

"Alright," I felt almost panicky the moment the word slipped out of my mouth but I knew that if there was the slightest chance I could get out of here then I would have to trust Malfoy for the time being. I didn't even have a chance to hear what his reply might have been however as almost as soon as I had uttered my acquiescence the sound of Bellatrix's footsteps sounded from the hallway.

Hurriedly I crept back across the damp stone floor to the other side of my cell where I had been before as I heard Draco move with swift but almost silent steps back to his chair.

"Have fun while I was gone Draco?" Bellatrix purred and panic gripped me for a moment as I wondered if she could possibly know but Malfoy answered her calmly.

"Of course aunt," he drawled, "because sitting down here in a freezing cold dungeon with _Potter _for company is my idea of fun," I almost smirked at the familiar disdainful tones in his voice as Bellatrix cackled delightedly.

~&~

A couple of days passed and nothing happened, I started to wonder if Draco had just been teasing me, or whether I had imagined the whole thing, though I usually dismissed that because why the hell would I imagine Malfoy wanting to help me? However it wasn't long before I realised that thinking about it only sent my mind in circles and I focused instead on what I would do if I really did get out of here. It helped me to think of all the ways I might be able to get at Voldemort, Dumbledore had trained me to an extent on the ways in which to battle Voldemort but I was still a little unclear on some things.

Apparently Voldemort was essentially impervious to the Killing Curse, if I tried to use it the same thing that happened on the night of my parents death would happen, he would be greatly weakened and his body destroyed but he would still survive. Therefore I had to think of another to defeat him. What had happened all those years before had also led Dumbledore to make another solmisation, whilst Voldemorts body could be destroyed. The destruction of his spirit and his soul would be an awful lot harder, at the time I had been kidnapped we had begun to think about the use of elemental magic. After all the elements were based on the idea of balance along with power and Dumbledore's theory had been that evil as great as Voldemort's put the world out of balance so that if the power of the elementals could be harnessed then the magic itself would strive to restore the balance independently of my own magic.

The only problem was tapping into the elemental magic in the first place and then directing it towards Voldemort, I wondered if Hermione was still looking at those old volumes from the library in Grimmauld place to try and figure out a way to do it, though part of me knew she was probably working more towards trying to get me back. Her _and _Ron.

I sighed quietly in my empty cell, it had been such a long time since I had seen my best friends, I tried not to think about them most of the time but as more time passed, the more the loneliness chipped away at me. Between food and sleep deprivation, the bouts of torture and utter isolation I wasn't altogether sure how much longer I would be able to maintain my grip on sanity. I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to hold onto every memory I had of my friends or try to forget they existed altogether just so I wouldn't have to face the terrifying prospect of never seeing them again, or worse still that in my absence they were suffering. I was sure the worry would eat me alive before anything else got me, the only way I had of consoling myself when I did acknowledge my fears was that if they were caught, killed or harmed in any way then Voldemort or his cronies would definitely gloat to me with sadistic pleasure.

I was turning this all around in my head for what felt like the millionth time when I heard Malfoy's now familiar footsteps coming towards my cell. I frowned slightly, it certainly wasn't his shift because Macnair and another man I didn't know (I had nicknamed Piggy in one of my more insane moments because he had a tendency to snort like a pig) had only just started their shift. My mind immediately jumped to the idea that he was here to talk to me again but he'd have to make up some pretty solid explanations to get rid of the other two first.

"Master Malfoy, to do what do we owe the pleasure?" Macnair asked greasily if not a little sarcastically.

"Macnair," Malfoy acknowledged him in a cold tone, "I wish to have a few moments alone with the prisoner, I've learnt some new spells I'm quite sure he'll enjoy" I tensed slightly whilst my guards snickered.

"Is that so, well why don't you try them out during your own shift, eh?" Macnair continued.

"Because I'm partnered with my aunt Bellatrix again and I rather think she'll want to do it herself and then I won't get a chance will I?" _this better just be a ploy because my muscles still ache from the Crucio his dear father put on me yesterday._

"Ah, but you know it would be terribly remiss of us to abandon our guard duty, don't you think Crabbe?" _Oh so that's who he is, _I almost laughed out loud, the nickname I had given him definitely suited, I settled on grinning to myself in amusement. It was strange how I still found things to laugh at, maybe I really was losing it, or maybe these Death Eaters just became a little ridiculous after a while. My thoughts were interrupted by the distinct jangle of coins knocking against each other, apparently Malfoy was going to bribe them, I wondered how much he was giving them just for the sake of seeing me alone, it didn't sound like a small amount. I could actually hear Crabbe make a small excited noise from the back of his throat and the grin was overly apparent in Macnair's voice when he next spoke,

"Nice doing business with you Master Malfoy,"

"I expect you to keep this quiet Macnair, and you Crabbe, you will see me later and place your memories of this in my pensieve. You can return here at the end of your shift," the son of Voldemort's right-hand man certainly seemed to have a lot of power over everybody else, _I suppose I should be thankful for that if he really is here to help me. If…_

"Agreed," Macnair answered at the same time as Crabbe said,

"Yes sir," I listened then whilst the two men shuffled about, getting up from their chairs and making their way back down the corridor they came from.

"Have fun Potter," Macnair shouted back as a parting shot with a gleeful laugh, _what is it with death Eaters and their ability to sound completely unhinged when they laughed? _Silence descended after that and I found myself slightly nervous, _what was Malfoy doing?_

"Potter?" I heard an urgent voice and immediately shuffled closer to the door,

"Yeah?"

"Scream, now."

"What?! Why the hell-"

"They're still there, I need you to scream and it has to be convincing," I had no idea what I was doing but Malfoy sounded sincere enough so I screamed, _loudly._ I stopped when my throat started to hurt.

"Merlin and Mordred, could you give a guy some warning at least? I think you split my ear drums," Malfoy grumbled and I found myself chuckling in the darkness, the was a moment of silence again before Malfoy let out a small sigh of relief, "Well at least its got rid of them,"

"So, new spells Malfoy?" I heard him laugh lightly and oddly it made me smile, I didn't think I'd ever heard Malfoy laugh with actual amusement rather than malice and scorn.

"Oh yes," he answered, "Ingenious spells that can shrink down food to fit in my pocket and then enlarge them again,"

"You have food?" I asked eagerly, my stomach already rumbling in anticipation, it had to have been at least a couple of days since anyone had given me anything, and that had been a stale and slightly mouldy bread roll.

"Yeah, here," the small opening at the base of the door opened and I heard Malfoy mutter '_engorgio' _before passing through a bundle, my mouth watered as I opened it up to reveal apples and sandwiches and pumpkin pasties, there was even some meat wrapped up separately, sausages and drumsticks that had been kept warm with a spell and there was a whole pile of chocolate frogs. I thought I had died and gone to heaven as I immediately laid siege to the food, my eyes running over the stash once again as I tried to decide what to eat now and what to save for later and ration out. I made a small sound of bliss as I bit into a warm sausage, I couldn't even remember the last time I had eaten food that wasn't stone cold, I heard Malfoy chuckle again.

"I'm going to go ahead and assume you like it then," he teased warmly

"Yes, Merlin yes," I answered prompting another chuckle from him, "Seriously, thanks Malfoy, I've still no idea why you're doing this but right now I don't even think I care."

"I already told you, I want him dead as much as you, anyway that doesn't matter, I'm not here just to feed you, I've been thinking about ways to get you out of here."

"Uhuh," I mumbled.

"Eloquent as always Potter," I laughed,

"Yeah, yeah Malfoy, get to the point." he let out a small breath of amusement and I wondered when exactly the teasing that usually passed between us had turned from malicious to something lighter.

"Sure, well there's various layers of spells on this door, there's one that sends off an alert upstairs every time its opened so that everyone in this place will know if its been opened without permission. There's also one that records everyone who touches it, anyone one not recognised and it sends off another alert, that shouldn't be a problem because it will recognise me. I doubt I'll be able to get permission to open the door so if I do manage it, we will have very little time to get out of here-"

"Wait, by letting me out, you compromise your own position?" I asked,

"Of course," Malfoy replied as if it were obvious, "As soon as I let you out they'll know who it was because like I said it records who touches the door and it's powerful dark magic, I won't be able to fool it, besides Voldemort will piece together the fact that I've been alone with you quickly enough, you can't say he's unintelligent after all.

"But, I mean, I just thought you would help me out without anyone finding out, what the hell are you going to do once I'm out of here then?" I said, suddenly feeling slightly worried at the position he was placing himself in,

"You mean if they don't catch me?" he asked with a bitter scoff, making me wince, I knew they would flay him alive for betraying them, "I'll just disappear, go abroad maybe and hope I can escape them long enough for you to finish them off and then maybe I'll settle down somewhere, I won't return to England that's for sure, even if you do kill V-Voldemort," I blinked in surprise as he said the name, even most of the Order were still afraid of saying it and here was Malfoy having to live in the same vicinity as Voldemort and saying it with only a slight stutter, I found my respect for him go up a few notches, "There will still be Death Eaters out there," he continued, "and they'll want revenge so its best I just cut all ties, not that I really want to stay pals with these sadistic bastards anyway."

"You mean, you're willing to cut yourself off from everybody you've ever known, your family, your _friends, _just to help me?" I asked in confusion,

"What?" Malfoy snapped, "No, of course not, don't be so arrogant Potter, it doesn't suit you, I'm doing it because I hate these people. Trust me, escaping from them will be the best thing I ever do, I can actually have a life instead of spending every waking moment trying to block out images of people being tortured, I want out Potter and you're my ticket to freedom, whether I like it or not."

"Oh," I fell silent for a moment trying to process everything and wondered at how Malfoy had just turned all my notions of him entirely upside down, "You know Malfoy, you're actually not that bad of a guy,"

"Gee, thanks" he replied sarcastically and I smiled, chuckling slightly.

"Why were you such a git at school?" I asked, the question nagging at me

"What the hell does it matter potter?"

"I want to know is all," I said quietly, picking up a ham sandwich from my food bundle to nibble on as I waited for his answer.

"Because I just was alright, you got on my nerves, thinking you were better than me all the time," I choked on the bite I had just swallowed,

"Me thinking I was better than you?!" I protested

"Well yeah, _you_ were the one who rejected _my _offer of friendship remember?"

"Of course I was going to! You'd just insulted my friend because of what family he came from, I'd known people like that before, you were a prejudiced snarky little bastard,"

"Oh and how else was I supposed to be? I was brought up to think like that and I already had every son or daughter of a pureblood family watching my every move, I couldn't exactly act any differently than how I was expected to and to be honest at the time I didn't even think of it. It was who I was and in a way I am still am that prejudiced git, it's all I've ever known but I'm not sadistic, I don't take pleasure in watching someone be killed or tortured." he took a breath and I had to wonder how much this explanation was taking out of him, "I'm not my father."

I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to say to that so I stayed silent, things seemed so complicated, at least before this it was simple, Malfoy was as much an enemy to me as the rest of the Death Eaters and wouldn't help me out in a million years. Now I just didn't know what to think, he still wasn't Ron or Hermione but he wasn't altogether bad, in fact from what he was saying it was almost like he had had a childhood as harsh as mine, only the opposite. Where the Dursley's had tried to repress anything and everything to do with my heritage, Malfoy had been forced to adhere to every aspect of his and see others as lacking because they didn't share that heritage. I opened my mouth to try and convey some sympathy, some understanding but Malfoy beat me to it,

"Anyway, why the hell are we talking about this, there isn't an awful lot of time and we still haven't decided on a way to pull this off yet." I sighed quietly in defeat, he was right really, and he obviously wasn't all that comfortable talking about himself this much so I let him change the subject.

"Yeah, alright, you were talking about the spells on the door?"

"Yes, like I said, an alarm will go off as soon as its open so we'll have about 10, 15 minutes at the most to hide and make our way out of here. This place used to belong to a relative though before it became Death Eater central so I know my way around and there's a few secret passages I can make use of that most people here don't know about. Obviously there's no apparition within a mile of the manor so I've got brooms for us to use, the major problem that we're going to have to get past is the wards around the place. As far as I've heard Voldemort's altered a few to react to you passing through them,"

"What, you mean another alarm?"

"No worse, they'll attack you, Potter if you step through those wards they'll melt the skin off your bones,"

"Oh,"

**Sorry this has taken so long :s I really didn't mean to leave it this long but life and some other fics distracted me, I'll update this faster from now on though, promise, hope you liked the chapter, I wanted to bring Harry and Draco to some sort of understanding before other stuff happened even though it came out a bit pathetic lol, anyway please review :) ~xx~**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I was silent for a few moments, trying to figure out how I could possibly get past Dark magic like that but I soon found myself shaking my head in confusion.

"I can't exactly say that I would like to have my skin melted off me Malfoy so any idea's how to get around the wards?"

"Maybe, I spend most of my time reading whenever I manage to hide myself away from Voldemort and my fathers _colleagues,_" he said, practically spitting the last word, "only I'll probably need to make use of your magic, its certainly stronger than mine and I'd rather not take any chances with whether or not enough power is being used," he concluded.

"Alright, that's fine with me as long as your telling me what to do, I may have the strength but I'm not always good with the finer points of spells, I usually have Hermione to train me beforehand and in the absence of her I guess you'll have to do," I replied, a teasing smile evident in my voice.

"I'm flattered Potter, truly," Malfoy said sarcastically, for a moment I wondered whether he took offence at being compared to a muggleborn but decided not to get into that and take the teasing banter at face value. We lapsed into comfortable silence for a few moments and I shifted slightly to lean my back against the door with my legs stretched out in front of me, feeling more hopeful than I had since the first few days after arriving in this dank cell.

"Malfoy," I began musingly, wondering how to go about saying what I wanted to,

"Yeah?" he replied, his voice soft and relaxed, a sharp contrast to the tightness that had been there only a few minutes ago.

"Thanks," I uttered, tilting my head slightly so that my ear was closer to the door as I heard Malfoy manage a small sound to acknowledge he had heard me. Oddly it seemed more appropriate than anything he might have tried to say, we were both aware we were entering unexplored territory here it seemed. I certainly knew that before this I would have laughed at the suggestion that I would ever be feeling grateful towards Malfoy. At this point though I felt as though I needed to get across that I really was appreciative of his help and not just that but having some company as well, having someone speak to me without insults and taunts, someone who actually wanted to help me.

"You're help means a lot, however unexpected," I continued quietly,

"Just don't let it go to your head Potter," Malfoy answered with a sigh, "besides it might be more appropriate to thank me once you're actually out of here," I laughed lightly,

"You might just have a point there,"

"This is getting far too mushy for me anyway Potter, we don't have much time left before Macnair sneaks back,"

"Will he really not stay away till the end of the shift?"

"Of course not, threats don't exactly matter much to Death Eaters when there's a chance they could sell someone out and better their position with Voldemort,"

"Makes sense I suppose, no honour amongst thieves or, well, death eaters in this case,"

"Huh?"

"Never mind, just a muggle phrase,"

"Oh, well yeah that's pretty much it actually so anyway there's a few more things I need to sort out with you, firstly I can't do this very often, it would be far too suspicious so I'm not sure when I'll get to speak to you next."

"That's okay, at least I know you will be eventually," I replied absentmindedly

"Of course, I'll work on how to get past the wards in the meantime as well but I need you to work on something as well,"

"Yeah?"

"Can you try increasing your control over your wandless magic? Obviously not so that you attract anyone's attention but-"

"I already started doing that," I cut Malfoy off, trying not to sound arrogant but still having to suppress a laugh and I almost couldn't help feeling a little pleased with myself when I heard an answering wry chuckle from Malfoy's side of the door.

"I suppose I should have seen that coming, keep doing that then. The stronger you get the better but that doesn't mean taking any risks Potter, the moment you feel yourself losing control of your magic to the point that your guards will become aware of what you're doing you stop, okay?"

"Alright, you don't need to act all concerned Malfoy, I know how to handle myself and I'm certainly not as stupid as you think," I answered, Malfoy's worry confusing me and making me feel as if I were being patronised.

"That's not what I…oh never mind, just do whatever," Malfoy countered tersely, "I'll try and create another opening like this when I can so that I can bring you some more food, oh and I brought you something else this time as well," I looked up to see the small hatch open up again and another bundle being pushed through, I grabbed it and was surprised to find it was a blanket, I stared at it for a moment not really knowing what to say. "I doubt this place is very nice to sleep in and as long as you make sure no-one see's it I don't see why you have to be cold," Malfoy said into the silence, his tone slightly abrupt though I could tell he was trying to smooth over his own embarrassment at the caring gesture.

"Thanks Malfoy, you…uh, you didn't have to,"

"Forget it, it's nothing, you're going to have to try and make the food I gave you last at least a week. Hopefully I will have learnt a bit more by then and I'll start trying to gather information on what Voldemort has planned in the near future so I can figure out what opportunities we have to escape."

"Okay, I guess all I can do is work on my wandless magic then," I replied, a feeling of uselessness stealing over me as it often had in the time that I had been here.

"Yes Potter it is all you can do at the moment, you don't always have to be the one accomplishing everything you know? Just focus on surviving long enough to get back to your little chums," Malfoy said with exasperation, "Let someone else do something for once,"

"Alright, I get it,"

"Good, well I guess I'll see you soon then," I listened as Malfoy shuffled about a little, getting up from his spot by the door but then he seemed to hesitate as if he were waiting for something. I was confused for a few moments but then it seemed to click,

"Bye Malfoy," I answered him with a small smile,

"Yeah," I heard him say quietly before starting to walk away, _maybe this really will work out, _I thought to myself. Before Malfoy had managed to get very far however a thought occurred to me and I could have kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner,

"Malfoy! Hey Malfoy, wait a minute!" With relief I heard his footsteps halt and start to return,

"What is it?" he asked as he neared the door,

"Can you try and find out about my friends?"

"Oh, sure, that's simple enough. Most of the information will come from this end so I'm not sure how accurate it will be given how much they like to boast and exaggerate but I can always try, I haven't heard of their being any major skirmishes since you were caught so you can rest easy that no-ones been killed since then at least."

"Good," I affirmed, letting out a sigh of relief and returning my attention to the blanket and food in front of me, thinking about how best to hide them. The blanket was quite dark so I could probably hide the food under it in one of the corners, I mused before looking up when I realised I hadn't heard Malfoy start back along the corridor.

"Malfoy?" I asked in the silence, "What is it?" it was silent a little longer before I heard a soft shuffling as if he were distractedly shifting his weight about.

"Nothing, just thinking, see you soon Potter," he replied, barely finished before I heard his swift steps carry him away. I frowned, almost irritated at how he was constantly confusing me with his actions, I had no idea where I stood anymore but I shoved it to the back of my mind. I could puzzle over Malfoy later, what was most important at the moment was keeping up pretences till he could free me, which meant I needed to hide the food and try to look as though I was hurt.

~&~

It was amazing really how a little food and warmth made things slightly more bearable. It took me less time to recover from the pain that wracked my body every time Voldemort or his cronies thought it would be fun to hear me scream when I had some proper sustenance and a blanket to crawl under. I found my head became clearer as well when I hadn't even been aware that it had been retreating beneath a haze of exhaustion and pain and starvation before.

This of course meant that I also had more strength to increase my control over my wandless magic to the point that I started to see small crackles of magic around my hand when I focused hard enough. I couldn't help but feel more than a little bit pleased with myself at the sight even as I struggled to keep it dampened down so that the spike in magic didn't alert the guards on duty.

Of course I couldn't practice all the time, occasionally I would find myself too weak and my mind would wander as always. However it would restlessly return again and again to the sudden enigma that Malfoy was posing, I went over our small conversations together again and again, hoping to find some hint as to why he seemed so utterly different to how he was during Hogwarts.

I understood that on a surface level, there had been truth in his words about wanting to be free of Voldemort and his father but I still felt as if there had to be something more, something that made him believe saving me was the best way for him to escape. After all, couldn't he get himself out of here so much more easily without bothering with me? Even if that did mean Voldemort would definitely still be alive and searching for him, there would at least be less of chance that Voldemort would want to revenge himself on the youngest Malfoy.

The Malfoy I thought I had known would never have put faith in me of all people and trying to figure why he was, was only making me more and more frustrated and confused. It was even worse when he was taking his shift as a guard, just knowing that he was just a few feet beyond the door was enough to send my mind back through the seemingly never-ending spirals of thought surrounding him. Doubt and confusion and hope all mixed up in a ball of tension that settled heavily in my stomach.

In fact the only thing I ever managed to be sure of was that Malfoy was definitely keeping something back and whilst my own curiosity itched to be satisfied, I had to admit that in reality I had no right to question him over it. It was enough that he was helping me, if I started doubting his motives I would start to doubt everything and then we wouldn't get anywhere.

So I would simply wait, slowly strengthening my magic and hope that my trust wasn't misplaced.

~&~

Malfoy was true to his word about contacting me soon however, though I still hadn't managed to get a grip on time, I could just about gauge that only a little while had passed according to how much food I had left. It was the third shift Malfoy had had since our last conversation and it seemed to be ending without anything having happened except from my own attempts to stop thinking about him because it was even starting to weird me out a little.

This time he had been paired up with his father and from the tense silence that had lasted however many hours they had been there, I guessed that their relationship was hardly normal or friendly, especially under these circumstances. I was almost startled when I heard footsteps from the corridor permeating the heavy blanket of silence that seemed to shroud all three of us, prisoner and guards.

It was only one set of footsteps however and I guessed that it was someone with another plate of scraps and mouldy bread to keep me alive. From the slight shuffle of feet encased in worn boots I guessed that it was Dolohov, one of the few death eaters who truly managed to spark complete repulsion in me every time he was near, I had seen him every time I was taken to _that _room to be tortured. He always drooled, madness taking over his eyes as he grinned with unsuppressed glee.

I was more than glad that I had other food to eat if he was the one bringing my rations to me this time, aside from hating the idea of his greasy, stained hands having touched the food I didn't doubt that he would have done something else to it.

"Atonin," Lucius acknowledged politely, with only a small tint of superiority that I doubted he could rid himself of even if he wanted to, not that he would want to though.

"Lucius, I've come to prolong the maggots life a little longer as you see, after all a corpse isn't quite as much fun," he sniggered, his tone flickering between a low rasp and a much higher pitch in his usual disconcerting way.

I heard him shuffle forwards and instinctively tensed even though I knew he probably wouldn't do anything, just the idea of him being near me had my nerves on edge. As a result I was more than grateful when Malfoy interrupted him.

"I can do that Dolohov, I was under the impression you were under orders not to approach the prisoner since the last time you were allowed to participate in his torture," he said archly. I shuddered as a memory I had tried to forget fought its way to the surface, it hadn't been long after I had arrived, Dolohov had broken and reset my bones countless times and put me under the Cruciatus curse till blood began to break through my skin from the sheer pressure of it.

"I'm only bringing 'it' food" Dolohov sneered

"Even so, the Dark Lord's orders are absolute, you should know better than to disobey them," Malfoy answered him tersely, I heard Dolohov make a slight noise of protest from the back of his throat but this time he was interrupted by the older Malfoy.

"Draco may be right Antonin, there is no point in tempting our Master's wrath in any case," Lucius with a certain note of contemplation in his voice that made me nervous, if he discovered Malfoy was anything less than totally loyal then it would all be for nothing. We would both be dead with no chance left to us.

"Fine," Dolohov muttered before retreating back down the corridor, there was a moment of silence where I couldn't help but hold my breath until Lucius spoke again.

"Well, Draco? Aren't you going to give the prisoner his food?"

"Yes father," Malfoy answered and I listened with my eyes trained on the hatch in the door, moving only slowly towards it, waiting almost skittishly for it to open. When it did I couldn't help the small jolt that ran through me and I moved forwards more quickly till I could see the tray of food being held out by Malfoy's pale hand. Knowing what I was meant to do I reached out and took it, surreptitiously looking for any clue that there was anything else laying there for me.

I tried to deny the small stab of disappointment when I didn't find anything and the tray was pulled back without a single sign of acknowledgement from Malfoy. Instead I retreated back into my corner and pulled my blanket around me, the chunk of bread still in my hand.

It wasn't long after that when Malfoy and his father were relieved from their duty by Macnair and Rodolphus Lestrange. With the sense that I was missing something, that Malfoy must have been trying to make some kind of contact with me earlier I found myself staring at the piece of bread.

Feeling a little stupid I poked at it a bit, nothing happened. Then I tried taking it apart to see if there was something inside, nothing. Now I really felt like an idiot, maybe the bread had nothing to do with it, or maybe it had been a distraction for something else. _Or maybe despite that having been the most contact you've had with Malfoy since your conversation about the wards, it hadn't actually been anything consequential? _

Ignoring my thoughts, I decided that there had to have been _some _reason that Malfoy had intervened and delivered the bread to me himself instead of Dolohov and so crept silently towards the door to look for any sign that there had been something left there rather than in the bread.

Clumsily I used my hands to try and feel around the door but I only encountered cold metal and the faint magical hum of the wards beneath my fingertips. Frustrated I let my hands drop and only then did they brush against something not quite as cold as everything else. I reached out to pick it up, suppressing the sudden urge to shout 'Eureka!' and took it back with me to my corner.

With so little light I couldn't really see it very well so I used my hands to try and map it out, it was relatively flat and I guessed that it had been slipped in underneath the tray Malfoy had held out, the texture was a little coarse as well but all in all I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do with it.

I rolled it over in my hands a few more times, trying to think of what Malfoy wanted me to do with it before realising that I might have to try and force some of my magic into it in order to make it do something.

With a pointless but instinctual glance at the door that my guards lay beyond, both telling stories of both my eventual death and the deaths of my friends in loud voices with the intention of baiting me, I started to reach out tentatively with my magic. Almost immediately I could feel it reacting and as it soaked up my magic like a flower soaks up the sun it expanded in my hand till a small bundle was lying in my lap.

I had to admit I took a moment simply to admire the kind of spell work it would have taken Malfoy to achieve something like this but I was soon opening it up to delve inside.

I smiled into the dark when I saw that he had given me more food as promised, there was also a piece of parchment which I happily opened to find that whatever ink Malfoy had used it appeared to be glowing faintly, allowing me to be able to read it in the dark. My hearing was focused entirely on the movements of the guards in case they were to look in and so discover me but the rest of my mind focused on the words in front of me.

The first few sentences reassured me that my friends were safe, a few had been injured but no deaths, at least not of anyone I knew. I wasn't so naïve as to believe Malfoy was telling me every little detail of the movements of Voldemort's forces but then I hadn't asked for them so I could hardly feel displeased about it. It wouldn't really do me any good hearing about the various incidents of muggle-baiting anyway.

As my eyes drifted further down the page I saw that Malfoy was managing to stay below Voldemorts radar for the moment but that he felt they needed to move quickly now so as not to give anyone the chance to uncover their plan.

At the bottom were instructions; _Memorise these words, they might be our best chance at blowing through the wards - 'extrico quod puter'._

I let out a small breath and let the Latin words settle in my mind before folding the letter back up and turning to hide it and my new provisions in whatever tiny crevices I could find in the wall behind me, hoping the darkness would do most of the work in camouflaging it all.

* * *

  
**Yay, another chapter done, hope you like it :) it ended up a bit longer than the last two but I suppose that's not a bad thing. The latin translates to 'unravel and crumble' if anyone's imterested, or at least its supposed to lol. Anyway, please leave a review :) ~xx~**


	4. Chapter 4

**Don't own**

Chapter 4

I repeated the few words of the spell in my head endlessly. I wasn't sure if I was losing my mind or clinging desperately to my sanity but I carried on anyway. The constant awareness that it was key to my survival gnawing away at the back of my consciousness.

Malfoy hadn't returned to my cell since. He had only been on shift as a guard once and I couldn't decide whether that meant I was simply imagining that a lot of time had passed and in reality it had only been a couple of days or something was wrong.

Both ideas unnerved me so that I would only end up pushing it to the back of my mind in a fit of frustration and occupy myself once again with either my mantra of 'extrico quod puter' or strengthening my wandless magic. I determined that I only had to wait a little longer, just a little longer and Malfoy would find a way to speak to me again.

I had to think that, panicking wouldn't achieve anything but harm to myself and the increasingly frequent torture sessions were doing enough of that without my help. I could at least hope that the torture was a sign of Voldemort's frustration with the way the war was going.

I'd only heard a few mutterings from the guards but as far as I could tell it seemed as though a stalemate had been reached between the Order members and Death Eaters. Not to mention that Malfoy's last note had definitely made assurances that no-one had been killed recently.

The hope that things might not turn out quite as badly as I had thought was vague but it was there. It was at least something to keep the despair at bay when I was dragged yet again into that room that stank of sweat and bloodlust to be subjected to whatever form of torture that the minds of Voldemort's Death Eaters could invent in their minds.

I shook my head jerkily to try and shake my mind free of the memories as they came. Slowly my mind drifted into blankness, my gaze fixed on the immutable dark stones of my cell walls, waiting for sleep.

~&~

Shadows danced past my eyes, time was passing, that much I was aware of but reality seemed to have drifted out of focus. There were only the words, and the hope and the waiting all safely tucked into my mind, on the outside I was alert to only the smallest of noises and movements, I was barely aware of pain and hunger but I tried to tend to both the best I could with shaky, automatic movements.

My consciousness remained in the blissful darkness, ready and eager to come back out once..

Once something happened, _what was I supposed to be waiting for again? Wasn't there something important? _

Maybe it was the words, those words that had taken on an abstract meaning somehow, _why had I even memorised them in the first place? _

_No, something more important.._

With a mental sigh I quickly gave up and drifted back into the darkness.

~&~

My nose twitched, something was nudging at me. With annoyance I could already feel myself waking up and I attempted to bat away whatever was waking me with a feeble hand. _Go away…_

Stubbornly the nudging became more insistent and I could recognise it this time as something pushing against my lips. Instinctively my tongue darted out and recoiled instantly at the feeling of cold metal and liquid.

Opening my eyes blearily I tried to focus on what was in front of me but couldn't quite manage it, there was only more shadows but I could feel the cool liquid against my lips once more and a sudden flare of synapses brought with it the realisation that someone was trying to make me drink a cup of water.

In quick movements I hadn't even realised I could manage, my hands reached up to grip the cup and tilt it further so that I could gulp the water down, not even stopping to breathe a sigh of gratitude and relief. It wasn't until a firm grip took the cup away from me that it caught up to me and a brutal cough worked its way up from my throat.

Distantly I heard a faint chuckle followed by a murmur that sounded a little like 'Idiot'. When I was finally able to breathe, I lifted my head to find Malfoy looking calmly back at me.

Abruptly I jolted up, accidentally knocking him back slightly, and looked around my cell frantically before finally settling my eyes back on Malfoy.

"W-What the hell?! Since when are you allowed to come in here? What…How…? _What the hell Malfoy_?!" I choked out, absently wondering if my throat felt so raw from disuse, or from screaming.

For a moment it seemed as if the only answer I would be getting was a small sigh and a roll of the eyes but it only really took a stubborn glare to get him to actually utter some words as well.

"You've been unconscious for a few days now Potter and it really isn't anywhere near as much fun to torture you in that state," he said dryly, "I got sent to wake you up."

"Days?" I asked, slightly alarmed and becoming increasingly aware of how sore I felt now that the adrenaline from seeing Malfoy had dissipated. In fact even moving my fingers seemed pretty impossible in that moment and my head was swimming already.

"Yes, Potter, days." He answered and I almost wondered at the way his tone had softened slightly, only my brain couldn't really focus on anything.

"Right, days." I echoed, not even registering Malfoy's small dry chuckle at my relative incoherency.

"Oddly enough its given us the opportunity to talk again at any rate, they did of course plant various bug spells on me to listen into whatever happened but I've managed to confuse the magic behind them. Whoever is listening at the moment will only hear what they should expect to hear, or rather, what I want them to hear," Malfoy explained somewhat smugly.

"Right…" I replied, showing that I'd heard but unable to process it beyond that, a now familiar sigh echoed in my ears once again.

"You really got yourself into a mess didn't you?" Malfoy asked softly, "I was only gone a few weeks, how did you manage to get into such a state?"

"Urgh, go away if you're going to moan at me Malfoy, my head is already pounding without your whining adding to it,"

"Well then maybe you should be shutting up too if you don't like whiny voices," he countered with an arched brow as if asking why I was railing against the one person helping me. He had a point of course but then again old habits die hard, hence the heated glare he got in return for his comment.

"Never mind Potter, I was only…, never mind. Just try and sit up a little, you need to try and eat some food and I can't be here very long,"

Even with my head feeling as if it was packed with cotton wool I could recognise that the atmosphere had changed, Malfoy's jaw was clenched and I had a distinct feeling of guilt. I attempted to shove it away as I shifted little by little into a more upright position, rationalising that I hadn't even been very mean and that it wasn't like we hadn't said much worse to each other before.

The feeling only increased however as Malfoy helped me and a niggling voice at the back of my mind reminded me that though we had said worse to each other in the past, that was supposed to be behind us and Malfoy hadn't done anything in that moment to warrant a harsh retort.

I finally managed to bite out a short, "Sorry," when he brought a small bowl of soup up to my mouth, noting only vaguely that he glanced at me in surprise as I was a little busy trying to hide my embarrassment by staring intently at the food in front of me.

"What..?"

"I'm just grouchy, alright? I'm this close to collapsing and I barely understand anything right now because mostly I'm just registering pain and exhaustion and general blurriness…so yeah, just ignore whatever comes out of my mouth." I finished, slumping back against the damp wall at my back as the words drained the last of my energy, _it would feel so good to just close my eyes right now and go back to sleep…_

"Potter…? Potter! Oi, focus you idiot, you go back to sleep now and you might never wake up."

"Huh?" I asked dumbly, my eyelids flickering, and damn it all if it didn't feel like the hardest thing in the world to be trying to keep my eyes open then.

"Just open your mouth, I can do the rest. You'll feel better after you've had some food, trust me,"

My jaw automatically dropped down a little to accommodate Malfoy's attempts to pour soup down my throat, apparently my subconscious still had a firm grip on its survival instincts. Thankfully it didn't take all that long for the blurriness to recede from my vision and clarity to regain a furtive grip on my mind.

"Thanks Malfoy," I slurred

"Well after all this effort I'd be slightly disappointed if there was no longer anyone to actually rescue. Besides you're no fun dead," he smirked and I chuckled slightly in response, finding myself inexplicably glad for the lightness of his remark. It was a welcome reprieve after goodness knows how long slowly sinking into despair.

"There is that," I answered amiably, watching through half-lidded eyes as a soft, genuine smile seemed to flicker across Malfoy's face before disappearing again.

My thought processes became tangled for a moment as I tried to figure out whether the sight had cheered me or baffled me more.

Watching through barely open eyes as he gave me a good-natured smile in return to the one that seemed to have crept onto my face, I wasn't sure whether to be baffled or not. If nothing else came out of this experience then I certainly wouldn't be able to look at Malfoy in quite the same way again, he was more human in my mind now, rather than simply another nemesis to overcome.

"What's our next step then?" I ventured after a moments pause,

"I can't leave you here much longer, that much is obvious," I opened my mouth to protest that I was perfectly able to hold out as long as was required but he silenced me with a sharp glance, his eyes glancing swiftly up and down my body with an eyebrow raised. The silent accusation that I was in no state to be disagreeing with him heavy in the air, making me duck my head a little in quiet acceptance.

"I'm fairly certain I can pull things off at my end but what about you? Is your wandless magic strong enough, hell, are you strong enough?"

"I'll be fine, Malfoy,"

"I don't want you to tell me you'll be fine, I need a realistic estimation of how 'fine', trying to be brave and attempting something you're not capable of will only get the both of us killed," he retorted. I almost recoiled and denied him a real answer, not only being entirely unused to a response like that but also hating the idea of having to admit to weakness. Occasionally someone close to me would try to coax me into to saying something more than the standard 'I'm fine' when they asked how I was and knowing they were concerned I felt they had a right to more information but at the same time I didn't want to cause them worry so I worked on convincing them that I really was alright instead.

Sometimes I had the suspicion that they could all see through me, Remus, Sirius, Hermione and Ron but I comforted myself with the idea that they didn't know anything for certain, not without hearing it from me. It was just better that way, if they were worried about me all the time they might get distracted in the midst of battle, it was only a hazard.

Now I couldn't help but wonder whether by not telling them I was putting them at risk anyway and I had to force myself not to feel resentment towards Malfoy for making me see the logic in dropping my guard every now and then, it would only be unfair to blame on him after all when it was my own issues that were the problem.

Sighing as I saw the determination in Malfoy's eyes, I answered him,

"I'm not as strong as I would wish to be going up against Voldemort's magic but practicing my wandless magic has been one of my only distractions while you were gone and I got pretty damn good at controlling it and channelling more power into it. If you wanted to make an attempt in the next couple days, as long as I had some food and got some sleep in those days then I'm fairly confident I can manage what you're asking of me. If I can't,-" my speech was broken up for a minute as a cough worked its way back into my throat, I winced slightly as it died down again, shrugging as I saw Malfoy's arched eyebrow, "If, I can't then we'll deal with it when we have to, but as it is there aren't going to be many chances and I'd rather get out sooner rather than later," I concluded.

Malfoy's stared searchingly at me for a few moments, as if trying to discern the truth from my eyes but I only met his gaze evenly and it wasn't long before he sighed in acceptance.

"Alright, I'm going to have to trust that you know your own limits. There's some more food there for you," he said glancing to the side where, true to his word, there was another bundle huddled away in the shadows, "there should be enough for you to eat quite well for at least 3 days so don't deprive yourself, I promise I won't leave it any longer than that so do your best to build your strength back up." I nodded in response and he held my gaze in silence briefly before pulling away and straightening up in one swift movement.

"I should leave now, I've stayed longer than I should have already," Malfoy continued, his gaze moving away from me towards the door as if nervously checking no-one was there before looking back at me. "See you soon, Potter," he said with a sardonic smile.

"Soon," I acknowledged with an answering smile, feeling hope and determination burning within me again as I watched him walk back out of my cell.

**Don't be mad? I know this took aaages and its shorter than the previous chapters, I managed to get 3 pages typed out reasonably quickly and then everything just seemed to come to a halt and all thought processes dried up :/ everything after that only got typed today and yesterday and rather than waste more time trying to eek out some more I figured I'd let you have what I'd written so far, it seemed like an ok place to end the chapter anyway. I was thinking though, I seem to mention Harry getting tortured every chapter without ever really going any further with it so if anyone feels like this is a huge plothole or something I would be happy to try and sort it out a bit, if you really wanted a torture scene it probably won't be overly graphic, I like horror but I shy away from actually writing the really hardcore stuff. Anyway let me know if you're unhappy with how I've handled it, I can't help but think Harry should be a bit more messed up because of it, maybe I'm just being weird, oh and let me know what you think of the chapter generally of course :) ..blimey thats a long AN, I'll stop rambling now ~xx~**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

It didn't take long for me to heed Malfoy's words after he had left and succumb to my need for food, listening carefully for movement once Malfoy's steps had faded away down the corridor. I was just finishing a sandwich when I heard the sound of approaching footsteps, apparently my time without a guard was officially over. Sighing softly I wrapped the food back up in the cloth that had been inside the blanket, reducing what I had enlarged to miniature size again and then tucking it away in the usual crevice in the corner so that it was hidden from view.

Not daring to hope that I would not be bothered when the guards arrived back at their stations I reluctantly laid the blanket down flat on top of my other one so that the shadows hid them. I mused briefly on how lucky I was not to have fallen unconscious with the blanket around me or with any evidence that I had been given rations within view.

Though maybe I had and Malfoy had just found a way to hide it before anyone saw.

Either way, it was still lucky, in fact as I started to think about it, it seemed ridiculously lucky that we hadn't been caught yet. Malfoy must really have gotten good at the subterfuge thing, that or it was all a lie and Voldemort was already well aware of Malfoy's actions. I stopped those thoughts however, I had no choice but to trust Malfoy and there was no point agonising over it. Besides his actions had only made me feel more confident in my trust of him so far, my instincts told me he was being genuine and instinct was all I could rely on in this place.

Trying to make myself as comfortable as possible, I settled against the wall and closed my eyes in an attempt to get some sleep now that I had eaten just as the taunts of the guards began. Jeering laughter and the thud of feet against the door as they tried to scare me, echoed into my dreams but this time slightly diluted by the promise that Malfoy would be taking me away from here and back to my friends.

~&~

Waking up a little while later, I realised with gratitude that the guards had become quiet and I risked pulling the blanket over my shaking frame. My head throbbed with a slight headache but that seemed a vast improvement on how I had been feeling before, cautiously I reached out a hand from under the blanket to grasp some food. In my mind, I remembered that Malfoy had said it would be soon and I had a moments debate as to how much food to eat based on trying to estimate exactly how soon he meant.

In the end I decided on only eating a couple slices of ham, all the same it seemed to taste like heaven and my mind grew that little bit sharper. The small latin phrase, '_extrico quod puter'_, that had rung in my mind for almost the entire time I was spiralling, came back to the forefront of my mind and I subconsciously flexed my wandless magic.

I couldn't see that there was any other way for me to prepare now, with a small sigh that turned to a cloud of mist as soon as it escaped my lips, I realised again that I could only really wait for Malfoy. My hand, now curled back under the blanket after I'd eaten, clenched into a fist as a familiar feeling of helplessness threatened to overtake me, in an attempt to push it back I focused on my wandless magic once again and lost myself in strengthening my power.

~&~

Malfoy kept his word, it didn't feel like much more than a week when my ears picked up an unusual sequence of noises that set off alarm bells in my head, telling me something important was happening. I recognised Malfoy's footsteps at the very start of the shift and I'd been alert ever since, it was the first time he had been on guard duty since he'd had to come into the cell to revive me.

As far as I could tell his partner this time was Crabbe senior and I wondered if he was anything like his son when it came to magical ability. It was lucky at least that he had never been one of those who liked to hound me and of course Malfoy wouldn't so I took the opportunity to eat some of the food I kept tucked away. Out of caution, though, I made sure enough was left to get through a few more days in case Malfoy wasn't going to make his move now.

The time drifted past in tense seconds and I was starting to doubt my instincts till I heard the soft murmur of voices, one slightly more raised than the other that had me pushing myself up from the floor and straining my ears to try and pick up every sound I could.

The sound of my breathing seemed to roar in my ears and I couldn't make the words being said, but they seemed to stop the next moment anyway and I could hear shuffling. The crackle of magic shivered along my skin for a few moments and I thought I could see the faint flash of non-verbal spells bouncing back and forth.

The thump seemed so loud that for a minute I couldn't help but believe their would be people running down the corridor in just a few seconds to ask what had happened. As the uncomfortable sensation of my heart leaping into my throat subsided however, I realised it was only my mind exaggerating things. In my mind I went back over it and realised that the heaviness of the noise meant a body had fallen to the floor, I could only hope that Malfoy was the one still standing.

If it was, I could understand the silence, he must have been realising that he had reached the point of no return.

"Harry?" The sound of Malfoy trying to sound more sure than he was broke through my thoughts. My first attempt at a reply failed and I cleared my throat nervously.

"What do you need me to do?" I asked, mirroring Malfoy in endeavouring to sound as though I wasn't scared shitless by the prospect of having reached the culmination of our plans already.

"I've been doing some more reading and I think I've found a way to delay the alarm set on the door for when its opened but it's going to have to be you that does it because from what I gather, I'm going to have to be incanting the spells to unlock and open the door at the same time."

"Alright, so how do I do it?"

"Okay, well first you'll need to visualize the net of wards across the door and just work on building up your magic. You don't have to worry about keeping it under anyone's radar this time but that doesn't mean you can completely let loose, alright?"

"I _know_ Malfoy, what next?" I teased, managing to lift the tension a little, Malfoy made a small noise halfway between a chuckle and an exasperated sigh and I couldn't help but smile a little.

"Hopefully your focus is good enough because that should make the wards visible to you, from that point things become a little risky."

"A little risky?"

"Yes, Potter, a little risky. You basically need to send a small amount of your magic into the wards but you need to make sure it's finely controlled so that it the wards won't in any way react to it." I'd moved next to the door at this point to hear Malfoy better, and slumped slightly against the door as I took in what he was saying, already understanding how difficult this was going to be. "You're going to have to thread your magic through the net and search out the thread that is linked to the alarms, you should be able to tell once you've found it because it will be more resistant to your magic than any other part of the wards. Aside from that, you'll just have to trust your instincts. Once you think you have found it though you need to trace the rune of Kenaz in the air in front of you while keeping your magic focused. If all goes according to plan then a bind rune should appear, when you see that-"

"Wait, wait a minute Malfoy, I've no idea what those things look like! I don't even know what they are!" I interrupted,

"Right, damn, I forgot you never took Ancient Runes, okay well Kenaz is basically the two lines at a ninety degree angle to each other pointing left with small extensions also at a ninety degree angle at their ends, do you understand?"

"Um, so like slightly more than half a square, tilted?"

"Good enough I suppose,"

"Alright so what about this binding thing?"

"You don't have to worry so much about that, it will just look like a star with six spokes and small symbols extending from each of the spokes, what you do have to worry about is explaining to me what each of those ends look like. I know for a fact that there will have been some alterations made to the basic spell so I'm going to need you to describe it so that I can then counter the runes that have been used, with me so far?"

"Yeah, got it,"

"Good, ready?"

"More than," I ginned slightly, this was finally happening, adrenaline began its steady pulse through my system but I attempted to hold it back a little so that I could clear my mind and focus on the task in front of me. I wondered briefly if Malfoy was smiling too, or if he was too worried to before shutting that thought down along with everything else, focusing only on extending my magic out towards the door.

Having been used to trying to keep my magic fairly smothered so as not to alert the guards, the new freedom of being able to pour out as much as I could was a little daunting at first and it took a few seconds to bring all of it under control. Slowly, as if I were simply tuning into a different frequency on the radio, my senses stopped registering things around me and instead all I could feel was the magic surrounding me. The world no longer seemed to made of materials and elements but gently pulsing threads of power.

Malfoy had been right when he'd described the wards as a net, in my minds eye I could see it revealing itself to me bit by bit as my own magic brushed up against it, the innumerable threads interwoven together across the expanse of the door. For a moment I almost panicked because there seemed to be no pattern to it and the strands were almost indistinguishable from one another, so thick was the multitude of them.

Pushing it to the back of my mind however, I placed my trust in Malfoy's instructions and was strangely comforted.

Tentatively I sought to connect to the wards, in my minds eye it manifested itself as a thread of cotton that I was trying to push through the eye of a needle, only I wasn't even sure where the needle was. After what could have just as easily been a few seconds as an hour and various false starts I felt a small thrill run outwards from the net of wards to myself as my magic finally made the connection.

Dampening down the part of me that wanted to celebrate the sudden triumph lest I lose my concentration and resultantly the connection I had worked so hard to make, I started to try and push the threads of my power along the threads of the wards as I found them.

The sensation was strange to say the least, it wasn't as though there was a connection, in fact I was actively avoiding making a connection to the magic of the wards. It was more like a constant mild shock of static electricity, sending vague shivers of power through my own magic back towards me. The sharper the buzz became, the closer I knew I was to a particular thread of the wards.

When I opened my eyes, I felt incredibly reassured to find that Malfoy had been right and what I had seen in my mind was also outwardly visible, I was also oddly excited by the fact that I could also identify the small strand of my own magic that was interweaving itself between the other cords even though it was all the same colour.

Using a mixture of what I could see in front of me and what I could feel through my magic I slowly zeroed in on the strand that controlled the alarm system. I fairly sank through the first few layers, I wasn't sure if that was down to a default in the wards themselves or my own strength, either way it didn't take long for me to reach the few strands that seemed to actively try and repel my magic.

I hadn't quite expected the resistance Malfoy had described to feel quite so much like physical resistance so I quickly found myself short of breath. It was only by slipping through the increasingly small gaps between strands that I finally found the part I had been looking for.

I couldn't be entirely certain the thread of magic was the one linked to the alarms, there was no sure way of knowing unless I tested it but it was certainly repelling my magic like Malfoy had said. Only it was slightly different in that the magic in this part didn't feel quite as hostile but still every bit as reactive to my magic.

It wasn't much to go on but it seemed like a good enough option, all I could do now was try and hope that I didn't fail. Thinking back to Malfoy's description of the rune Kenaz, I traced it in the air in front of me and almost cried out with relief when a new image overlaid that of the wards.

Scrutinising the six-pointed star in front of me, I quickly memorised what each rune at the end of the spokes looked like in case it all disappeared once I started speaking to Malfoy because of my split concentration.

"Malfoy?"

"What do they look like?" he asked, swiftly surmising that I had succeeded, presumably from my tone of voice. I probably should have been a little disturbed that he could read me so easily but I couldn't find it in me to.

"Okay, one looks like a triangle coming from the line or a really angular 'P' I guess,"

"Thurisaz, figures that would be there, its for protection essentially but it protects by causing pain,"

"Nice, okay, next one looks a little like an 'R',"

"That's probably Raido, used for control,"

"There's one that just carries on as a straight line, does that mean there's no rune there?"

"No, that's Isa, acts as a barrier, almost done, what are the others?"

"One that's an 'N' or a 'H' I can't really tell, sorry,"

"That's alright, I think it will be Hagalaz,, for disruption,"

"And one of the lines just has a short line going through it diagonally,"

"That could be Nauthiz or Gebo, both would make sense, are both the lines at an angle to each other or does one look straight compared to the other?"

"One looks straight,"

"Right, Nauthiz for defence then, last one?"

"The last one just looks kind of confusing, it all crossed, like two arrows overlapping the spoke, pointing in different directions," I squinted and tilted my head a little, trying to differentiate the lines from each other.

"Oh! Inguz, it's a final bit of binding magic to strengthen the bind rune's power and seal the magic,"

"That's it then, you've got it all?"

"Yeah, Thurisaz, Raido, Isa, Hagalaz, Nauthiz and Inguz, we did it Potter," I grinned as I heard the faint elation in his voice, even tampered as it was with faint disbelief. Withdrawing my magic, I watched as the wards on the door faded from my view as if they'd never been there, the only proof they were being the information we had just gathered and a faint imprint on the back of my eyelid's from the light the magic had given off.

"Right, I should be able to unbind the rune, or rather you will be able to, I can figure out the mechanics but I don't have nearly enough power to pull it off whereas you have more than enough,"

"Never thought I'd see the day when you admitted I was more powerful than you Malfoy," I joked,

"Yeah, well, things have changed, besides I'm still better at everything else," he teased back, "Anyway, once the bind rune falls apart the alarm will be a little more susceptible and when I'm using the spells to unlock the door I can throw a few delaying spells at it which should work."

"Right, so what do I do?"

"Trace an upward arrow and pour as much magic into it as you can,"

"That's it? Another rune and a blast of power? What was all the rest of it about then?!"

"Hey, I needed to know what rune you had to use," he defended,

"Alright, alright, just seems way too simple after all that,"

"And your complaining, why? You might want to put more energy into getting your ass moving Potter, we're on a clock."

"I know, I'm doing it," I didn't even know myself why I was causing a fuss except that it really did seem so simple but I trusted Malfoy to know what he was doing better than I did. Mostly, anyway.

"What's the rune for?"

"Potter, for crying out loud! It's just for strength and protection normally but your using it because it's also for victory, coupled with your magic which is the antithesis of the Dark Lord's it should disintegrate the bind rune, happy now? Feel like doing something sometime soon so that we can get out of here?"

"I was just asking," I replied, trying to hide the grin of amusement from my voice and barely succeeding,

"I'm allowed to be stressed right now, okay?"

This time I had no chance in hell of stopping the chuckle from slipping through my lips even as I started to focus again on the task in front of me, building up my wandless magic so that it almost crackled through my veins, ready to be thrown at the wards.

"Alright, we have to do this at the same time right?" I asked,

"Yeah, on the count of three Potter. 1, 2..."

**Here it is finally :) I think it's alright, sorry that I apparently have a penchant for cliffies, oh and I just wanted to clear up that I did take a bit of liberty with the runes but there is such a thing as a bind rune and all the one's I named are real although they each have more than one name so I pretty** **much just used the first name I came across for them, the meanings are however not something I'm going to swear by, diffferent rune alphhabets say different things, different websites say different things, and each rune has a variety of meanings as it is so I used what was convenient for me, but you're welcome to correct me on anything, I found it really interesting actually, it was fun researching it :) but yes I'll shut up now, except to say please review :) ~xx~**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"…3"

My hand rose in the air and I could almost see the magic begin to manifest itself as violent purple little shocks started leaping across my skin. Tracing the upward arrow as Malfoy had instructed, I could almost feel each jolt of magic as physical beings, instinctively understanding my intention, attacking and corroding the binding rune in place over the wards.

Beyond the door I could hear Malfoy muttering latin words rhythmically, nonsensical to my uneducated mind but apparently powerful enough that I could feel the waves of his own magic brushing up against mine. In a strange way it seemed almost intimate, our magic working together to achieve the same end. Shrugging off the slightly disturbing thought I continued to focus my mind on the bind rune in front of me that had miraculously stayed visible and which was now, under my onslaught starting to blur a little around the edges.

I wasn't sure if I really should but my instincts instructed me to trace the rune in front of me again to keep my magic more focused or just to keep my mind focused, at least it didn't seem to make anything worse. In fact after a few seconds, what had been so vague I had thought it a trick of the eye became more substantial, in the air where I had been tracing the arrow I could see the path my finger had taken begin to glow with a mellow light.

I was even more delighted to find that parallel to this, the bind rune behind it was starting to disintegrate faster. Power danced along my veins, mingling with the sweetness of imminent escape and suddenly I couldn't even remember feeling this beautifully happy before.

I was returning home finally to Grimmauld Place, to see my friends, escaping right from under the nose of Voldemort yet again and with the help of Malfoy of all people. A small chuckle of joy tumbled from my mouth and it seemed to ripple along the cords of my magic turning the edges pure white so that it almost hurt my eyes to see it.

It stopped before I had to close them however, in fact everything seemed to stop at once and there was only the faint lines of the wards left hanging before me. I blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the memory of the light from the back of my eyelids, my ears filled with somewhat eerie silence now that the buzz of magic had disappeared from them.

"Well that was certainly quick," I heard Malfoy from behind the door, soft awe in his voice that vanished as soon as he cleared his throat, "Good work Potter, now step back for a second while I open the door,"

"Uh, yeah, right, course," I stumbled, already returning to my normal awkward self now that the magic had quietened to a content hum at the back of my mind. From behind the door I could feel the thrum of Malfoy's magic again as he cast another spell that seemed to end abruptly with the scraping sound of the door easing open.

It was impossible to articulate to Malfoy what exactly it meant when the gap in the door reluctantly widened to let the flickering torchlight in the hallway spill past to lay at my feet. When it had opened far enough for me to be able to see his figure, all I seemed to be able to manage was a nod of the head but he seemed to understand anyway, his gaze holding mine for a few moments before the chill of our current situation dug it's fingers into my mind once again.

With a fleeting grin I was through the door and standing next to the guy who by all rights should hate me as much as I should hate him.

"Right, which way's the exit?" I quipped to the blonde beside me who was trying and failing to suppress the emotions flitting across his face, a warm mix of triumph and happiness.

"Really, Potter? Jokes?" he raised a sardonic eyebrow, I shrugged.

"Why not? And you didn't answer my question anyway," with a sigh Malfoy started to lead on ahead,

"This way," he said resignedly.

It was quiet between the two of us after that, even our breathing barely disturbed the stillness of the hallway that seemed to stretch on endlessly before us, far more ominous than a cacophony of alarms and the looming figures of Death Eaters blocking our path would have been. At least if that had happened, we would know what to expect, this way every shift of the shadows caused my heart to pump a little faster with trepidation.

The rhythm of our footfalls had replaced time, making what must only have been minutes drag into eons. Twenty steps. One hundred. Two hundred.

The more it dragged on the more our footsteps seemed to be leading us to certain ruin rather than escape and safety. My stomach coiled in on itself uncomfortably, my muscles ached with adrenaline, begging for the chance to leap into action after having been denied exercise for so long. The feeling was like an itch at the back of my throat.

With the silence heavy in my ears and the creeping awareness that as more time passed the more the probability there was that everyone had become aware of my escape and Malfoy's betrayal. I found myself becoming incomparably jittery.

Malfoy himself, glancing at me from the corner of his eye seemed to notice how tense I had become.

"Relax Potter, you're making me nervous and I'm nervous enough thanks. We'll know when they find out, honestly the whole place is rigged with wards, at least one of them will trigger near to us and when that happens we may have to start running."

"That's really reassuring Malfoy, thanks," I muttered with a roll of my eyes even though, with his eyes trained forwards it went unnoticed by the target of my sarcasm.

A glance backwards and a tilted smirk was all the reply I got out of him and we subsided back into silence. It took me a moment to realise that I actually did feel reassured and my brow furrowing slightly in confusion I had to wonder whether it was simply having someone else there to cut through the silence and talk to me or if it was Malfoy himself who was a reassuring presence. Every time I thought about Malfoy these days it seemed to get more and more confusing, I had become accustomed to accepting him as an ally thus far, I'd had to. Maybe once we were safely out of Voldemorts' grasp, _if _we managed to get out safely, there might be a chance for us to put our old rivalries to rest once and for all and attempt something of a friendship.

It had become clear enough after all, that Malfoy wasn't quite the complete bastard I used to think he was, he was a bit more complicated.

With my thoughts occupying me it took me a second to notice the brief flash of triumph on Malfoy's face as he turned towards the wall on the left. I stopped behind him, looking at the stretch of all that seemed like every other bit of wall we had passed. Grubby dark stone and the faint glistening of water and damp here and there that had given rise to various oddly shaped creeping patches of mould.

"Concealing charms? Special wards? A door transfigured into a wall? Glamours?" I would have gone on, waiting for Malfoy to answer me as to which guess was correct but he merely waved a hand at me, signalling that he wanted me to just shut up. I almost felt like petulantly refusing to do so and continue to pester him but I managed to stop myself before anything escaped my mouth. It _really _wasn't the time to be childish.

Malfoy pointed his wand at the wall and muttered a spell under his breath, for a moment I thought he had failed whatever it was exactly he had been attempting and I could see him frowning in annoyance whether at the wall for not co-operating or himself I wasn't quite sure. However it was then that a faint little speck of red light appeared a couple steps further along the wall, just at middle height. Malfoy did not seem to see it though and I had to prod him in the arm and point towards it before he got the hint.

With a slight huff that couldn't help but amuse me he walked over to the red light and nodded,

"Right," he muttered, his eyes sweeping over the wall as I waited for him to do something, reveal a door or another path branching off from this one with a sweep of his wand. Eventually I gave up of course, I had never been particularly renowned for my patience,

"So? What is it? What do you need to do?"

"You ask an awful lot of questions Potter."

"No kidding, I actually want to know how it is we're supposed to be escaping from certain death, must come as such a shock to you Malfoy," this time it was his turn to roll his eyes.

"Well its nothing you're thinking of if your little list earlier is anything to go by," and then he turned with a grin that was perfectly mischievous, almost worthy of the Weasley twins, "There's a passage down here, only about a hundred yards deep behind this wall that leads out to the forest about half a mile away, I can remember it from my few visits to my relatives here back when I was younger, I liked exploring." He shrugged,

"When I came back to it a few weeks ago, part of it had caved in, which of course makes it perfect. If we just cut our way in from the side, making an entrance on the wall here and make sure that we are beyond the cave-in and then cover up our tracks, we should be able to go undetected. Hopefully someone will know that there's been a cave-in and assume that its impossible that we would be able to use passage as a means of escape, if they don't then they'll eventually find the cave-in and make the same assumption anyway. It's a direct path thankfully, no other passage joins on to it, we should be safe, they'll search everywhere else and never know. I'm making a rough estimate as to where we should be cutting through of course but I've been up and down this corridor countless times, it's the best guess I can make, I just marked it with a little charm."

It seemed Malfoy couldn't help but let his smile stretch into a grin then, pleased with the discovery he had made.

"That's, well, actually kind of brilliant," I conceded, "So how do we cut our way through?" Malfoy's grin faded then, turning into a concerned frown,

"Well, that bits a little more theoretical I have to admit, I figure if I just use a slightly modified cutting spell I can separate of a chunk of the wall and then vanish it and once we're through I'll set up some glamours that will hopefully hold. The hard part will be trying to actually separate the chunk of wall from the rest, it may be a little shallow, but like I said, I made some modifications. "

"Shit Malfoy, I don't think I like the idea of risking my life on a theory," I replied, running my hand through my mop of hair, only realising half-way through that having not been able to brush it or wash it for weeks on end meant of course that my fingers got awkwardly stuck in the tangles and I had to pick them back out, much to my chagrin.

Malfoy gave me a look as if to say '_serves you right' _and cast a quick Tempus charm,

"It's been ten minutes already, fuck, alright, it's our only option Potter so don't complain and just trust that I might know what I'm doing." He snapped, stress kicking in as we both realised we might have just seconds before Death Eaters started running down the corridor towards us.

With swift jerky motions of Malfoy's wand I could see cracks forming in the stones of the wall, cutting out a small section, just high enough and wide enough for us to fit through. No sense in cutting out more, a larger section would only require stronger and more extensive glamours.

As the cracks continued to etch themselves in the stone sweat broke out on Malfoy's forehead and the hand holding his wand shook slightly.

"Do you need my help, Malfoy?" I asked quietly not wanting to disturb his concentration whilst keeping my eyes trained on the wall in front of us as if I thought that might keep him from feeling embarrassed. Of course that raised questions as to why I was taking pains to save him from embarrassment but those I could deal with later, right now I just needed to know that Malfoy could cope.

"No," Malfoy forced out between his teeth, "We're going to need your magic once we reach the outer wards, I'm fine."

Apparently I had no choice but to leave him to it, he was nearly done when a faint noise sent a jolt of fear jumping through every nerve in my body and Malfoy's hand twitched a little, causing the cut he was making through the wall to skew slightly from its original course. Twisting my head back and forth, I peered into the darkness that surrounded us, trying to discern what the shadows hid.

The delayer Malfoy had put on the wards back on the my prison door must have run out, they must know now that the door had been opened. All that was left to figure out was whether the noise had been a Death Eater making their way towards us, or the alarm itself. I could hope all I liked that it was the alarm and we still had perhaps one or two minutes but the voice of pessimism kept me in fear of an attack that might be only thirty seconds away.

Every noise my body made seemed horribly loud in my ears, my lungs breathing, my heart pumping and my throat swallowing back saliva nervously. I almost choked on my own breath as I tried to slow and quieten it, only to release it all with one roaring gush once Malfoy finished and vanished the part of the wall he had been working on.

Neither of us hesitated any longer than it took to glance nervously up and down the corridor once before we made our way through the opening in front of us, hands slightly outstretched to feel in the dark for where the wall began again. We didn't have to go far before the path Malfoy had dug into the wall ended and we turned around to start on the charms and glamours we needed to cover up the hole behind us and consequently our escape route.

I pointed out that two wands would be better than one in this case, my nerves were making me a little desperate to close up the gap as quickly as possible.I was starting to hear a few more small noises travelling down the corridor towards us now, someone was definitely on their way. Luckily Malfoy conceded to let me help this time and named a few spells for me to work on as he worked on others, weaving them all together to try and create the strongest protection against discovery that we could manage in the time.

I was glad to discover that my magic worked well with Malfoy's, it made the process a little easier and would hopefully make the glamours that much stronger. I only had half a second to wonder whether it was strange before my mind re-directed itself to more important things.

From what I could see in the darkness, what had only been an empty space before was starting to grow thick with the formation of dark grey bricks and moss covered cement. The air twisted in and over on itself, distorting into solidity as the seconds ticked by, acquiring enough opaqueness that what little light there had been was shut off completely.

If possible, every miniscule sound became even louder in my ears, spurned on now by both fear and the loss of sight. The only accompaniment to the harsh sound of my own breathing, was Malfoy's.

It was irrational how grateful I was when he finally lit his wand with what must have been a non-verbal lumos. Darkness I could deal with easily enough, I had spent the entire time since my capture submersed in it and I had enough experience from before, living in a cupboard to make me entirely indifferent to it. The complete absence of light I had experienced only a moment before was another thing completely.

Malfoy and I looked at each other for a moment, holding our breaths lightly and searching for any sign that the other had heard something whilst straining our own ears for anything beyond our small pocket of air between wall and glamour. Several heartbeats passed and no sound had broken the silence yet, so I dared to myself.

"Should we start digging through the wall?" Malfoy's gaze which had turned towards the glamours during our wait now flickered back to meet mine.

"Yes, I think they'll be here soon, we both definitely heard something before, I just wonder why we're not hearing anything now," he shook his head slightly as if trying to cast away thoughts, "No point in being paranoid now, better to try and get as far away as possible as quickly as possible and think later."

Malfoy turned to the wall in front of them then and began the same wand movements he had used to cut away the other part of the wall.

"Are you sure I can't help just a little?" I could already see the strain of the spell on him in the hardening of his features and tensing of his arms.

"No Potter," he replied, throwing a swift look in what appeared to be both an attempt to reassure and a warning to stand back and let him handle it. "Don't worry, you'll be doing all the work later on at the wards and I'll just have to be the one standing back, you'll get to do your hero thing, just let me share the responsibility this once, yeah?"

I didn't even mind the hero-complex jab, I just smiled, it reminded me of something Hermione or Ron or Remus might say.

"Sure."

**Given the way its gone so far, I might as well admit that updates of this will probably stay sporadic, unless I take a break for a while and try to write ahead a bit so that I have a backlog of chapters and can make the updates more regular, but then I always want to post a chapter as soon as I'm done, I'm too eager to see what people think to not. I shall have a think and try and get myself into gear to write a bit faster and in the meantime, you have my sincere and profuse apologies :) **

**That aside, the escape has begun! I'm excited, it's going to be a bumpy ride! Review and you get awesome points :) they're like man points..but more awesome **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Time dragged its laden feet as Malfoy continued to work on removing the wall in front of us, occasionally raising small clouds of dust with his spell work. I clamped down on the innate urge to sneeze, the smallest thing could give us away and then it would all be for nothing.

I left Malfoy alone and focused my sharpened hearing on the corridor behind us, concentrating so hard it was almost making my head buzz which would defeat the point entirely. I sucked in air through my nose and blew it out through my mouth, counting to ten in the hopes that it would calm me down.

I took reassurance in the fact that I wasn't alone, that there was someone next to me, ready to help if things went wrong, even if it was Malfoy. It was easy to forget that the outside world still existed in this prison, the consistency of Malfoy's presence and aid helped to bring into focus who I was and my goal of returning to my friends. The rest got pushed to the back of my mind, half-remembered dreams and flashes of pain buried deep in my muscles.

With a clearer head now I closed my eyes and quieted my breathing, waiting for the smallest scuffle of foot against stone.

I didn't have to wait long, the ghost of footsteps soon became a solid echo of three or four sets of boots slapping against stone approaching swiftly down the corridor. I tried to separate out the sounds in my mind and focus on the rhythm of each different person, one seemed heavy enough to be the father of Crabbe or Goyle, a sharper footfall might have been Macnair. There were a few I couldn't recognise in the growing clatter but at the forefront, her steps faster and more eager than the others, Bellatrix.

I should have expected she would have been one of the first rushing to make sure I stayed in my cage where I was no danger to her Lord, but still it sent a shiver down my spine knowing that she was here. Hers was a peculiar brand of sadistic insanity.

I turned to Malfoy to tell him and he was already looking over his shoulder at me, catching my eye, he nodded in acknowledgement of their presence and returned to his spellwork. I looked back at the glamoured wall separating us from our enemies and waited. Every nerve in my body pulsed with electricity the moment they passed by us, the sound of their hurried progress freezing the air in my lungs till my head pounded in protest of the lack of oxygen.

Only once their footsteps had begun to fade did I release my breath, still careful to do so as quietly as I could. I turned back around now, hoping we would be out of here long before they came back. I swallowed nervously in sympathy when I saw that Malfoy's wand hand trembled slightly.

It was hard to tell in the dark how far Malfoy had progressed but I hoped there wasn't much left of the stone to cut, every second now I was expecting the return of those footsteps. His wand did seem to be pointing further down the wall than it had before though, so I dared to hope that he was working on the final part of separating the small stretch of stone from the floor.

Luckily it seemed I was right, only a short stretch of time passed before Malfoy was stepping back, turning to look at me with a mixture of triumph and disbelief that he had actually managed it. His breath was laboured with the effort of his spellwork and his hand still trembled slightly where he had let it fall to his side.

None of it mattered, we smiled at each other, we had passed the next stage. We were one step closer to getting out of there. With quicker, surer movements of his wand now Malfoy turned back to vanish the stone and it disappeared with a disconcertingly small cloud of dust and a complete absence of noise in the next second.

Before us now was a long, pitch black tunnel, Malfoy muttered a lumos spell to light our way and we eagerly started forward. We both clearly wanted to put as much distance as we could between ourselves and the corridor where Voldemort's Death Eaters would no doubt be reappearing very soon.

Our footing was slightly uneven, Malfoy's spell, hurried as it was, could hardly have been perfect after all. We stayed in silence most of the way, still very aware of the danger of discovery, particularly now when we were so close to escape.

I only just managed to match Malfoy's stride now that I had time to feel the fatigue in my limbs, my legs had become so horribly unused to walking prolonged distances. I could feel Malfoy's eyes flicking towards me now and again but thankfully he didn't voice any worries he might have had. Voicing the problem would only make it worse in my mind, I could manage as I was.

Whether it was uncomfortable to force my muscles like this or not, I was exquisitely glad that I had the opportunity to. Stuck in my small cell it had been easy to forget the smaller things I was missing out on sometimes, preoccupied as I was with survival. Being able to walk about freely was definitely something to cherish.

I could feel hope bubbling up in my veins and tried to dampen it, knowing if we failed any expectation of success I may have would make it so excruciatingly worse. Suppressing a smile I focused on each step, determined to think no further than reaching the end of this tunnel. Only once that was done and the stone replaced to cut us off from the Death Eaters behind us could I think of navigating the secret passageways Malfoy had mentioned to reach the outside world.

However I hadn't suppressed the smile quickly enough for it to be missed by Malfoy himself who had glanced sideways to check on me again. Surprisingly he didn't comment, only returned it with a strangely warm smile of his own. My insides tingled with the shared thrill of flight and the corners of my mouth tugged upwards with adrenaline-fueled glee. Whether I wanted them to or not.

The next few hundred yards felt easier after that, and worrying less about what threats loomed behind us, I focused on what was in front of us.

It didn't seem all that long till the tunnel branched out into turnings on either side of us and Malfoy came to a halt with a long exhale.

"We're here, this is where it links to the underground passageways," he sounded as though he almost didn't believe it. "Down there should be where the cave-in blocks off our route," he said, pointing down the right-hand passage, "and this is our way out," he continued, pointing now to the left.

"Brilliant," I replied, the relief evident in my voice, even to my own ears.

"I'll block this up and then we can move on," Malfoy said, turning back around to face the way we had come, "it should be easier to bring the stone back than it was to disappear it."

I nodded but realised with the way he was faced he probably hadn't seen the gesture, I shrugged inwardly, he was already busy with wand movements and muttered words of Latin. Leaving him to it, I took a small step towards the left-hand tunnel and breathed deeply with my eyes closed.

I tried to tell whether I could smell any change in the air, any hint that at the end of the passage was an opening to the outside world but I could only detect cold and damp. It didn't matter too much though; just knowing that there was an opening was enough.

My muscles throbbed gently and a sharp headache was forming just behind my eyes as the adrenaline that had been almost constantly pouring into my blood stream since my cell door was first opened, slowly started to abate. It distracted me slightly from being able to simply enjoy knowing that we had reached the next stage of our escape but I was still very aware of the pain that could and would be inflicted on both Malfoy and I if we were discovered now.

That at least, accompanied with the distant goal of seeing my friends again, being able to rest in my usual bed at Grimmauld Place and eating a decent meal, kept me focused and alert. During my time in these dungeons I had managed to ignore much worse pain for the sake of clinging to sanity and I could ignore the aches and grumblings of my body now as well.

It was with this feeling of fresh determination that I turned back around to Malfoy to see how much progress had been made. My eyes were greeted by the extremely odd sight of what seemed to be the air attempting to thicken into stone. Particles seemed to shiver and bend under Malfoy's ministrations, occasionally parts of the air would even glob together as an indefinable bit of grey before stretching out and becoming transparent again.

Watching it happen I had to wonder whether Malfoy's spell was a type of transfiguration, turning the particles of the stone that had been there from a solid to a gas and now back again. I almost raised my voice to ask but I didn't want to break his concentration and now hardly seemed the time to start debating magical theory, my curiosity could wait.

More and more now the air was clumping together in those disconcerting little globules, shimmering as it went from being transparent to the opaque dark stone. Malfoy kept up his constant litany of Latin, watching the effect of his spellwork closely, probably to make sure no mistakes began to manifest.

The pace of the spell began to grow faster, more and more stone appearing out of the air, I couldn't see as easily what was happening further down the tunnel but the darkness seemed to get heavier. Only a few more moments of waiting and watching Malfoy's magic at work and the last bits of air were filling in, Malfoy's voice grew quiet and then stopped altogether.

He turned with a faint grin, "Like I said, much easier turning it back," a trace of smug triumph in his voice.

I laughed and surprised myself by being swept up in his achievement and telling the truth without even really thinking, "That was pretty fucking cool, Malfoy, you're actually amazing," I grinned, looking at the stone where only a few minutes ago there had only been air.

It wasn't until Malfoy had been silent for longer than any natural lapse might have been that I realised what I said might have sounded weird considering who we both were. The awkwardness settled over me like a stifling plastic bag, smothering any small remark I could have made to brush off the tension. _I thought we were past this, we can talk like friends, surely? _

I glanced at Malfoy but he was too far back in shadow for me to read much of his expression, not that I would be any good reading his expression anyway, I didn't really know him after all. This experience certainly tied us together in bonds of gratitude for helping each other out of a situation neither wanted but that didn't constitute knowing a person.

I thought I was going to have to make some sort of apology for crossing a line or something, for doing whatever it was exactly that had made Malfoy so distinctly uncomfortable but then Malfoy himself broke the silence.

"Of course I am Potter, you should know this by now," he sneered covering the awkwardness with arrogance as he walked briskly past me, "I suggest we move quickly, just because we have both routes to this particular passage blocked off, doesn't mean that they won't find another way of locating and reaching us."

I knew who '_they_' were of course and couldn't agree more with Malfoy's sentiment of getting out of here as quickly as possible, no matter what precautions they had taken.

This tunnel was just as long, dark and boring as the last, though the footing was more even. Despite the fact that we were less likely to be heard, Malfoy and I stayed silent as we walked, for my part I just didn't quite know how to start a conversation and I was receiving absolutely no encouragement from Malfoy.

He walked slightly ahead of me, eyes focused ceaselessly on the path in front of us and I wondered if he still felt awkward from before. I couldn't imagine why it would be that big of a deal though. So I complimented him, stranger things had happened, him helping me escape from Voldemort for one.

My thoughts went round in circles as time dragged on and still I could think of nothing that would account for the way Malfoy was suddenly so tense around me. At least pondering it provided a nice, if confusing, distraction from what would happen when we did finally make it outside.

Our footsteps echoed around the enclosed space, beating a strange staccato rhythm that rattled around my head, exacerbating the dull throb behind my eyes. I bit down on my tongue just hard enough to direct my minds attention away from my headache and carried on walking, alternating between thinking about Malfoy and counting my steps to pass the time.

There must have been a flurry of activity somewhere as the Death Eaters looked for me and possibly for Malfoy if they had noticed he too was missing and managed to connect the dots. None of the noise seemed to reach us though and I tried not to find it foreboding, it was merely a result of especially thick walls.

Surprisingly it wasn't that long until Malfoy was slowing down and the darkness in front of them slowly lightening to a stony grey. Realising how close we were now to open air I shuffled along distractedly and ended up tripping over my own feet, almost landing face first on the floor. At the last minute though, Malfoy grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back upright harshly though he barely even looked at me as he did it.

I smiled embarrassedly at the back of his head in silent thanks anyway. A few hundred more yards of our increasingly slow pace and then Malfoy stopped abruptly. I could not only smell the fresh air now but I could taste it on my tongue as I drew in each breath. It was a ridiculously heady feeling, I had long ago stopped noticing the staleness of the air in my cell but now I wondered how I ever managed to ignore it.

My attention was quickly drawn away however as the previously mute figure beside me suddenly decided my presence was worth acknowledgement.

"We need to be careful as soon as we step out of here, there will be people dotted around to make sure we don't slip through. There's a small copse of trees to the right, if we can stay out of sight till we reach it then we should be able to get through the wards and escape safely, I have two brooms hidden a little way away." Malfoy spoke hurriedly, his voice detached and commanding. He had certainly gained experience in battle during this war, he spoke as a soldier, a mind-set I recognised all too well.

"As soon as we head out of here we're going to be pretty much surrounded, there will be men posted around the entire perimeter. We have to move quickly and keep close to the ground, staying in shadows as much as we can, we have a slight advantage because its night but there are various spells working in the vicinity to prevent any kind of disillusionment or concealment charms." He turned to me then, an air of grim determination hovering behind his eyes.

"What I can do is muffle the sound of our feet, it's an old spell not many know, I doubt the Dark Lord will have thought to counteract it. If he has then we're in trouble but otherwise as long as we are careful, our progress to the outer boundaries should go unnoticed." Malfoy spoke hurriedly as I nodded through his speech, trying to absorb everything quickly and prepare myself.

"If we are noticed," he continued, "are you fit enough to fight?"

"My legs are a little weak but I'll do whatever it takes to get the both of us out of here, I've fought before when I've been injured, I can do it now," I resolved, glad when Malfoy took my word for it.

"Good, we'll head right first, skirt around the walls for a few hundred yards and then we should be in line with a small copse of trees on the edge of the property. After that, it's simply going to be a dash across the lawns, there won't be much to hide behind, I reckon our best plan would be to run a little then drop to the ground and wait for any sound of nearby threats. If it seems clear, we get up and run again, alright?"

"Yeah,"

"I've got two broomsticks hidden amongst the trees, the wards will be just in front of us when we find them, you should be able to feel them and then all we have to do is break through and fly for our goddamn lives."

"Sounds like fun," I grinned, Malfoy grinned back, the scent of battle already rushing to our heads.

"Ready?" He asked.

"As I'll ever be."

**I'm really, really sorry this has taken me so long! My laptop had a meltdown a couple months ago and I lost some stuff, including the first half of this chapter but thanks to the wonderful I.T technicians at my campus I got it back :) and then it was just a case of making myself finish it once I got my new laptop, which took me a while... I seriously fail**

** I have rewritten bits and pieces of this but I'm still not entirely happy, its pretty description heavy and Malfoy turned out a little OOC but I figured I could fuss more or I could stop being a lame-ass and actually give you guys the next chapter, so here it is, I hope you don't think its too bad and I'm seriouly grateful to everyone who is reading/reviewing this, I think its my favourite thing that I'm writing at the moment and I have big plans for where its going so I hope you enjoy it! :) **


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Malfoy cancelled the lumos spell on his wand and turned it towards me, vestiges of my previous view of him tried to prompt me into recognising the gesture as a threat but I simply didn't feel it any more. What would have been the point for him to turn on me now?

"_Tacito Pede,_" he murmured and I assumed it was the spell to quiet our footsteps as he cast the same spell on himself. He inclined his head towards me ever so slightly and swept out of the opening, disappearing to the right.

I stumbled a little as I went after him, struck by the oddness of not being able to hear any footsteps as I walked.

As much as I had been relishing the increasingly fresh air as we had neared the opening, once I stepped outside it really hit me. The night chill coaxed blood to my cheeks and poured itself through my nose and down my throat. I opened my mouth to take larger gulps, the cold helping to sharpen my senses and keep exhaustion further at bay.

It can only have been a few seconds that I took to relish the air but as I turned I could see Malfoy was already looking back at me with impatient disapproval. I shrugged in apology and caught up with him with a few long strides.

Through my worn out boots I could feel the softness of the ground, the slight give that grass and soil had where stone did not. It was far more forgiving on my tired feet and for a few minutes of hurried footsteps across the grounds, the pain in my legs retreated.

It wasn't long before I adjusted however and the ache returned but I ignored it as I had before. Malfoy and I moved half bent over, keeping ourselves as low to the ground as possible without it hindering our progress, just in case we had to drop and hide. So far there was no-one, not a shadow or a sound to hint that we were in danger of being caught.

I hardly dared to hope…

We had travelled just a few hundred yards, keeping reasonably close to the side of the manor, the shadows it cast shielding us a little. Malfoy halted in front of me, crouching in the juncture between two walls, and looked out across the grounds. It was difficult to see much but I could make out where the open ground ended and a line of trees began.

It was far away, half a mile maybe.

Looking across the distance I realised the dark really was the only cover we had, between the manor and the trees there was absolutely nothing to hide behind. In my head I tried to figure out how long it might take to run to the trees from where we were. Taking into account the fact that I probably would not be able to run all that fast, it was definitely long enough for us to be seen by any patrolling Death Eaters.

Malfoy looked to be trying to make the same calculations as he scrutinised our surroundings, a small frown-line marring his forehead. He shifted suddenly, bringing his mouth next to my ear to relay his instructions.

"We run a few hundred yards, then we drop and wait for noise, if there's none we get up and run another few hundred yards. If we do hear something, you run, I'll delay them, I've told you enough for you to be able to break through the wards on your own, don't look back." He moved back a little and fixed his eyes on mine, "Got it?"

I swallowed heavily, heartbeat slightly irregular from nervousness, I wasn't sure if I really could leave Malfoy behind as coldheartedly as he seemed to expect me to. I could see the fierceness and determination in his eyes, he really was prepared for the fact that he might die tonight trying to help me escape.

If anything that only made me more uneasy, it was not as though I were under any misapprehension, I knew how likely it was that we would be caught and killed, or worse, caught and kept to be tortured even more. However, having to knowingly abandon Malfoy to that fate, whilst saving my own life, did not sit right with me at all.

Malfoy saw my hesitancy and though others may have been appreciative of an ally's reluctance to abandon them to torture and death, Malfoy had been refusing to do anything expected for a while now. He wasn't grateful, he was downright pissed off.

His fingers where he had grabbed hold of my shoulders, dug in painfully, and his voice hissed with anger.

"Haven't you been trained in battle at all, you stupid fucking idiot? There are no heroes; you do not get to be a hero!" He whispered harshly, "I am your defence at the moment, alright? My job is to protect you and help you to get out of here so that eventually you can destroy the Dark Lord. If that means falling behind to fend off a Death Eater, that is what I will do and you will do what it is you're supposed to do and get the hell out of there. Are we clear, Potter?"

I nodded back to him, silent and newly resolved. I wondered when it was that Malfoy had grown up to become this battle hardened, intelligent adult in front of me instead of the petulant child I knew back in Hogwarts. I couldn't help but be impressed.

We both turned to take one last sweeping glance across the grounds for any signs of movement and then we were up and running. My breath rattled in my lungs, each intake of air already burning the back of my throat and every muscle in my body protesting.

Malfoy threw himself to the ground at my side and I followed suit, not quite able to suppress the wince though I made no sound. I swallowed around the laboured breaths that wanted to escape even as it burned my throat and tried to focus on any noises that weren't coming from me or Malfoy.

Mostly there were just the sounds of the night, wind, trees, a general rustling and a hint of wildlife somewhere out of sight. Behind that though, I could make out small disturbances that made me wary of trusting any of my other senses.

A shift beside me and Malfoy's eyes were shining in my direction, I couldn't see the rest of his face but he looked ahead of us, intimating that we would be moving again in a moment. I waited for another gesture or for him to move so I could follow but instead felt the lightest touch of fingers on my arm.

Four fingers, a tap, then three fingers tapped. A countdown. I tensed my muscles as I registered two fingers turn to one and finally a sharp tap of knuckles and we were both up and running.

Faster than last time, we pelted forwards with our heads down, trusting in the spell on our feet to keep our movements as silent as possible.

Shadows moved around us, parting like water. The trees ahead of us loomed closer and closer and I shot a glance over my shoulder, a few shadows seemed thicker than the rest. I tightened my grip on my wand and slowed a little.

"Malfoy!" I gasped out, he stopped and turned with his wand at the ready all in one slick movement. They were almost on us, hooded darkness taking human shape and a battle shriek filled the air seconds before a coiling ball of purple and red light shot past us.

I put up shield charm upon shield charm in front of us and Malfoy, stepping closer to me without a thought began shooting spell upon spell back at our attackers. The light and noise was attracting more attention now, two assailants became five.

Mind blank and not bothering to identify any of the spells coming towards us I pulled on every disarming and disabling spell I knew. This I could do, this I was ready for, I had fought so many battles already in this war and this was more important than any.

We were _so _close to escape.

Malfoy's grip found my wrist and he edged us backwards as we struggled against all they could throw at us. Time no longer existed and my retina's burned from the flashes of light shooting past our heads.

I barely registered suddenly having to pick my way over roots until I bumped into something behind me and recognised we were at the edges of the grounds, the line of trees we had so desperately tried to get to already upon us.

Malfoy seemed to realise at the same moment and ducking to avoid a particularly nasty looking spell as I threw up another shield charm he adjusted his grip on my arm. Before I could protest he pushed me behind him and yelled at me to run and break the wards.

There was only a second for him to glance back at me, his eyes telling me enough to know he was serious. This would be our only chance.

I turned and ran hearing screams of "Traitor!" behind me.

I was just near enough still to hear Malfoy's reply.

"Better a traitor than a pathetic worshipper of a madman!" He howled and feeling a little hysterical I had to grin, laughter bubbling from my throat.

Adrenaline numbed me to all pain now and tree branches whipped across my uncaring body. I ran until I saw a shimmer in the air and pulled to a halting stop, skidding a little on dead leaves.

Wards as thick as Malfoy had told me they were would always leave a trace, especially relatively new ones and I could see them curling in and around themselves in front of me. I gasped in air and tried to still the trembling in my muscles from so much exertion to pull on the magic inside me.

It ran like warm liquid in my veins and I begged it like I never had to aid me now. My skin prickled and whiteness played around the edge of vision. I dug even deeper, trying to pull out every drop.

I held it for a moment, eyes closed, praying for this to work before I focused on the wards in front of me, reaching out to dismantle them.

"Stop, Potter!" A sharp bark in the dark and I turned sharply with my wand held out defensively. That wasn't Malfoy's voice.

"That won't work, don't you think the Dark Lord has accounted for your magic?" A figure stepped forward out of the shadow of the trees to my right.

"Snape," I growled, he made a small noise of annoyance and impatience at the back of his throat.

"No time for that, wait a moment,"

"Why the hell would I do that?"

"Do you want to die?" I didn't answer, merely scrutinising him, spells swirling on the tip of my tongue, ready for him to make a move but he only moved past me.

He moved his upwards and I tensed but instead of using it against me he started tracing runes on the surface of the wards.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"If you release all that destructive force you've built up inside you, it will only blast you backwards, probably taking a large chunk of your chest with it. I'm providing a cover for your magic so that it won't react as badly as it would have."

"Why?" My wand lowered a little, my magic was nipping at my nerves ready to be used and I could only stand there confused as Snape worked.

"As I have already said, there is no time for that." He finished one more rune and turned to me, "That should be enough, but you also have to do something Potter, don't think of destroying the wards, they are destructive themselves, you need to neutralise them, use more positive energy. It will be a better counter."

"I don't understand,"

"Are you still a first year Potter?" He snarled, "How do I have to explain this to you? Think happy thoughts, you imbecile!" *

Still confused as to why Snape was helping when it was putting his cover under risk, and a little doubtful as always that he really was a friend to the Order of the Pheonix, I figured it was worth a try anyway and I knew I had to get back to Malfoy soon before he was overwhelmed.

Shrugging inwardly and keeping a wary eye on my former Potions Professor, I gathered the magic in me once again, this time trying to imbue it with thoughts of home, Grimmauld Place, of my friends and how happy they would be to see me returned.

The whiteness that shrouded my mind seemed warmer somehow, with yellow and gold edges like sunlight. When I focused on the wards, eyes fixed on the place Snape had left the runes, my magic left me in one draining gush, light pouring off my skin to cover the wall of wards in front of me. I couldn't describe how elated I felt when I could see the light literally eating away the swirling magic of the barrier.

I turned to thank Snape, even if the whole situation was mad he deserved that, but he was simply gone, melted back into darkness. When I turned back there was a clear hole, the ragged edges still flicking white and yellow.

I could waste no time and already I was sprinting back to where Malfoy fought the Death Eaters, I couldn't leave him behind, not after everything.

I was only halfway there when I heard the screaming. Heart in my throat I pushed on faster than I would have thought my body would allow.

Almost there and now I could hear laughter as well and one solitary dark voice muttering, the bits I caught seemed only to involve disappointment, calls of 'traitor'.

The voice, it called Malfoy 'son'. I felt something wrench inside me, to be tortured by your own father seemed worse than anything I had imagined.

I could see the edge of the trees again, a crumpled ball on the floor, so many hooded figures gathered round it, jeering. My feet thumped against the ground and the last vestiges of my magic burst outwards, obeying instincts rather than pure thought now.

But there was no warmth to it this time, only cold destructive hate.

It knocked them all back, they had not seen me coming, assumed I had already left no doubt. It gave me just the few seconds I needed to skid to a stop and drag Malfoy up from his position on the ground. Hands pulling under his arms, yanking him back under the cover of the trees.

We stumbled a little as we moved until Malfoy seemed to recognise what was happening, uncurling and starting to carry his own weight.

It was only a few more yards before he was running on his own. I could hear noise grow behind us, they were starting to recover, frantic yells to catch us rang so loud they pounded in my head.

Only a little further, just a little more. We could make it. We had to.

I could see the wards, the hole that was our door to escape. Malfoy grabbed my arm and pointed to the left.

"Brooms!" he gasped out, blood welling out of his mouth. I nodded and turned with him, a little nook covered them, dead leaves piled around them. I picked them up and dragged Malfoy back towards the break in the wards.

There was crashing behind and around us, our pursuers moving in, a few spells passed blindly over our heads and then we were there and out and mounting our brooms.

We kicked off just as we heard the triumphant yells of the Death Eaters who had found us, they quickly turned into cries of anger and dismay as we flew away.

Wind rushed past my ears deafeningly, a glance to the side told me Malfoy was practically slumped over his own broom but just about managed to keep up with me all the same.

Time was blurry again as we tried to get as far away as possible before we stopped but finally when the grey of dawn began to overtake the dark we slowed to a stop in the middle of a field. It was less of a landing as it was a crash straight into the grass wet with dew, our bodies beyond the point of exhaustion.

I cast the brooms aside in case they could be tracked and grabbed onto Malfoy who looked as if he was on the edge of passing out, blood bubbling from his mouth again. A quick side-along apparition and we were on the doorstep of the Grimmauld Place.

We were safe. Safe as we could be anyway and my legs chose that moment to give out, with a blind sloppy flail of my arm I managed to ring the bell before darkness began to engulf me, Malfoy already collapsed against my side.

My friends were here, they would look after us now, Malfoy and I had really done it. We had escaped from Voldemort's clutches, _finally._

Merlin I can't wait to eat some of Molly's food, I thought. And then there was only the swimming dark.

***I just imagined Snape saying this in his snarky little tone and then could not get it out of my head because it was so damn funny XD I just had to put it in, sorry!**

**It's a little shorter than I planned but I'm not that well versed in battle scenes so it ended up short and sweet, hope I did okay anyway but I'm glad its all done, now I can get back to the tense emotional tidbits :) but yeah, all sorted, and my exams are all over finally! Once my dissertation proposal is out the way, second year is officially over, mega sad times, I think I might actually break down when I graduate next year, being a student is way too damn fun D: (aside from work and exams obv lol) **

**Also I've been listening to Seethers new album 'Holding onto strings better left to fray' as I've been writing this and all I can say is my god people, go listen! It's bloody amazing :)**

**- Your slightly crazy and very tired author**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The darkness was so thick, it muffled everything. There was somewhere I was supposed to be but it was so far away, so difficult to find. Flashes of remembered pain and an aching loneliness. I wanted to scream but no sound came, only images piling on top of each other. Twisted masks and cawing laughter, how was I meant to escape when I was surrounded by it all?

Muttered words drifted through, losing all their meaning but managing to be soothing all the same. Blurry faces half remembered, calling out desperately. I had to get to them, I had to help but then the dead and the long gone were there again, pulling me back down. So many lost already. Apologies weren't enough, they demanded more, those cold dead faces and clammy hands dragging me back to their shallow graves.

Voices above me were becoming more urgent and then there was a light at my side. A pale face, its words reaching above the clamour, telling me as I looked upon the dead that there was nothing I could do to save them now. Giving myself over to them would achieve nothing, it said.

The dark cringed away from the light and suddenly there was a hand, slender and white-skinned, and I knew this was my chance, I could trust this one, this strange rescuer.

The first thing I felt was my fingers being squeezed together almost to the point of pain. And then there was smell, something warm, familiar with an underlying layer of must and damp.

A jolt of muffled pain shot along my nerves in my arm, breathing through my nose was suddenly an Olympian task, my eyelids felt as though they were made of lead and my mouth and throat felt as though someone had recently been at them with sandpaper.

Hearing came next, someone calling my name over and over.

"_Harry, Harry! Can you hear me Harry? Squeeze my fingers if you can hear me. Harry!"_

The words on their own did not make sense at first as they filtered through the still thick layer of cotton wool insulating my mind from reality. They echoed around my head like a foreign language I had heard before but couldn't translate.

My nerves twitched under my skin with the instinctive need to move somehow and assure myself that my body was fully intact and functional. When nothing happened, the desire to make my body respond became increasingly urgent and my mind began to panic.

I felt as if I had turned to stone overnight and still ignoring the clamour of voices around me, I channelled all of my frustration into making my limbs obey. I felt as if achieving that would be the only way of forcing everything else to make sense.

I was finally rewarded with a violent twitch of my fingers, the muscles in my hand protesting with sleepiness. At least the tone of the voices around me became a little less alarmed and worried and I was beginning to recognise them now, these were people I was safe with.

"Is he alright? He still hasn't opened his eyes."

_Ron, that sounds like Ron_, the thought splintered through my mind with the sharp taste of relief.

"He's going to be in a bit of pain at first and he'll probably be confused for a while, it takes the body a while to recover from stasis under any circumstances and he's been under two days straight. Hermione, will you run and get two bottles of pain-relieving potion, there should be some in the usual kitchen cupboard."

"Of course, I'll be quick,"

Another squeeze of my fingers and then my hand was dropped back onto the bed, _Remus and Hermione are here too_, I only managed to make out bits and pieces of what Remus had said but I caught the words 'pain', 'confused' and 'stasis'.

I was beginning to understand what was happening but really I didn't care too much, mostly I just let the feeling of being home sink in. Childishly I felt the urge to cry, I had my friends around me once more and it was one of those rare moments when I was not only happy to lay back and let them take care of me, I _wanted _them to take care of me. I _wanted _to be taken care of, there was no-one I had to be strong for here, no-one to lead.

I was just Harry, a seventeen-year old kid who had seen too much of war and desperately wanted a father figure to tell me I had done enough, everything was going to be okay now.

Unsticking my tongue from the roof of my mouth I managed to force out a sound that was supposed to be 'Remus' and came out more like 'Rgwmprf'.

I heard two sets of footsteps move closer and just being able to recognise that sound sent my mind straight back to the dungeon, the echo of footsteps along the corridor as they came to collect me for some fresh new hell.

I cried out more desperately, flexing my fingers upwards.

"Remm-s,"

The bed dipped on either side of me, and there was another hand holding onto mine.

"It's alright Harry, you've been under stasis for two days while your body recovered from- …well, while you got better, but you're in Grimmauld Place, you're safe now. Your muscles have taken some damage so you won't be able to move much for a little while, do you understand? Squeeze my fingers to let me know you understand, Harry."

I flexed my fingers again and it seemed to be enough of an assent. My eyes moved quickly across the back of my eyelids and feeling less panicked than I had since I first woke up, I tried to open them.

I had just flickered them open enough to ascertain that some blessed creature had left the lights off and the curtains closed when I heard a door open at the far end of the room heralding what I could only assume was Hermione's return.

"Is he okay? Has he said anything?" I could just about make out a form moving across the room, there was a faint clink of bottles. Instinctively I opened my eyes wider to take in the sight of my friend but immediately I had to shut them again. As dim as the room was, it was still brighter than the blanket darkness beneath my eyelids.

I must have made some small noise of protest because I heard an answering noise of upset from Hermione and Remus briskly asked for one of the pain-relieving potions. I felt the cold rim pressed to my lips and a hand cup the back of my head gently, lifting me slightly.

"Drink this Harry, it'll get better," Remus murmured.

The taste wasn't altogether unpleasant thankfully but I was more grateful for the coolness of it as it ran down my throat, making it easier to swallow down.

The bottle seemed bottomless as Remus continued to feed the potion to me and at some point I had to stop, my throat tired and eyes stinging. It felt as if I had drunk the whole thing ten times over but in reality I had probably only managed half. It was pulled away from my lips and I muttered something that was supposed to be 'tired'.

They seemed to understand what I meant at least and I felt the weight of Remus and Ron lift from the bed. A hand stroked my forehead, small and soft, _Hermione. _

"Go back to sleep then Harry, we'll be right here when you wake up,"

"Right, we're not leaving mate, just get your rest" I heard Ron echo and already consciousness was slipping away, my mind clinging to the sound of their voices. I ignored the twinge of fear that this was just a new form of psychological torture the Death Eaters had invented as best I could.

It took a few more times waking up disorientated with only slightly improved control over my body for me to have a handle on things. Waking up during the night was the worst, it was too quiet and still. Too much like my cell. Remus, Ron and Hermione must have set up shifts though because one of them was always there.

By the time I finally woke up and not only knew exactly where I was but could also sit up and talk, a week had passed. It was then that other people started to visit and I realised that Remus had been keeping them away before. I couldn't help but feel somewhat grateful to know that my weakness had only had a minimal audience.

Everything that had happened since I was captured had to remain a closely guarded secret if only for the sake of my sanity. Naturally reticent under usual circumstances, I became even more reserved in the shadow of my imprisonment. Only Remus, Ron and Hermione knew the full extent of my injuries upon my crash landing on Grimmauld Place's doorstep.

Hermione had told me that Madam Pomfrey also knew, she had been the first to treat me and was then forced to leave instructions as she was called back to the field. She was one of the best Healers we had on our side, she was needed everywhere.

At least that meant that I didn't have to see the knowledge in her eyes and hear the clucks of sympathy. That was not something I felt capable of dealing with quite yet. It was more than enough fending off the worry of Molly when she managed to visit along with Charlie.

Thankfully I had just started to cope with food because I don't think anyone has ever cooked quite so much in one day. It felt like every five minutes she came upstairs with a new dish to offer me. Unfortunately I hadn't realised this was what she would be doing and ate as much as I could manage of the first meal she had brought me when I woke up around midday (beef stew with slices of bread and butter).

Consequently I really could not force down much of anything else and she went back down to the kitchen a little more disappointed each time. By the late afternoon I was looking at Ron desperately to try and make him see that if I looked at anymore food I might throw up.

He had been working on reports in the corner of the room but seeing my distress winced half in amusement, half in sympathy and got up from his seat to go and find his mother. The food stopped after that and Charlie who had seen me earlier came back to sit and chat.

I still couldn't get anyone to talk about any of their current assignments but I could ask how everyone else was doing. The Weasley family was strong as ever but he did have some bad news, Michael Corner had been severely injured in a mission and had died in the early hours of that morning.

He and Terry Boot were trying to extricate a few muggles the Order knew were on the Death Eater's radar from one safe house to another but they were ambushed in transit. Michael had sent Terry ahead and managed to fend the attackers off just long enough before he was hit with a new curse that made all the veins in his right arm burst.

"By the time he got to the next safe house, he was too far gone for them to do much," Charlie explained gently, his face lined with a tiredness that went bone deep. It was an expression I recognised easily, a year at this and most everyone in the Order looked exactly the same each time bad news came in.

I looked down at my hands lying on top of the bed comforter and was not surprised to find that after days of barely being able to keep them still from an ingrained nervousness, they now lay completely lax. I sighed.

"Do we know how to get in touch with his family?"

"Yeah we sent people as soon as he appeared, we think the curse was one of the new experimental ones because it was slow acting. It gave him enough time to dictate a semblance of a goodbye message but not long enough for his parents to get there and see him before he passed."

"Thanks for letting me know Charlie,"

"Of course," he smiled sympathetically, "how much longer do you think you'll be stuck up here, you must be going stir crazy?"

"A little," I admitted, "shouldn't be too long till I'm up again now, the spells and potions are doing their work, Remus said my legs were in pretty bad shape but they're getting better." I sighed again and closed my eyes briefly and was struck by a wave of dizziness that left my mouth dry and my palms sweating. Perhaps I wasn't doing as well as I proclaimed, my head swam as I opened my eyes again. Charlie was looking at me with concern, obviously reading enough from my expression that something was wrong.

"Go back to sleep Harry, I'll tell mum you're resting and we'll see you the next time we pass through, yeah?"

"Thanks, sorry we couldn't talk longer,"

"Hey, no worries just take care, everyone's looking forward to having you up and about again but we're doing ok on our own, no need to rush things." He smiled again and got up to leave, by the time I heard the door close I was already falling back into a deep sleep.

It was another two weeks before anyone let me walk around the house without assistance, I was heading down to the kitchen with every intention of enjoying a hot beverage without someone looking at me critically as if I were going to collapse any second.

Now that my body had almost recuperated my sleep wasn't quite as deep and I had started dreaming again. Needless to say the dreams were not exactly pleasant, mostly snatched impressions of darkness, the sound of footsteps and laughter leaving me in a sweat every time I jolted awake.

My eyes felt itchy with tiredness and I decided coffee would probably be better than tea, I was trying to train my body to sleep at normal hours. Falling back asleep wouldn't help anything, it would only make me feel worse.

I wondered now whether having the freedom of the house might mean I could find out where Draco had been hidden away. I had asked Remus about him within the first week of waking up, as soon as I had him alone and could actually form coherent sentences.

All he had said was that he was being treated for his injuries and had woken up earlier than I had. He had freely given up his memories of the escape for the Orders perusal via Dumbledore's pensieve so they knew that he was a possible ally but there were enough Order members still suspicious that he was still kept under constant surveillance.

Hermione had hinted once or twice that she would like to know exactly what he had said to me to make me trust him but I shrugged her off, telling her it was my only option. How could I explain to her what I didn't completely understand myself? Looking back it seemed like a tactically flawed decision.

Perhaps it was simply the desperation but I couldn't help but remember the way he had fed me when I was on the verge of giving up and the way he had talked about not wanting to become his father. Those conversations through the steel door of my dungeon cell were not exactly something I could recreate for my friends who still knew Draco as Hogwarts resident bully. I wouldn't want to anyway, I instinctively felt it was something private.

Draco would just have to prove to them himself that he had grown past that. Unfortunately I doubted he would be all that willing to, especially with Ron who had been suspiciously quiet on the subject of Draco being my rescuer.

The kitchen was for once empty and I swallowed back relief as I walked over to the stove to set the kettle boiling with a tap of my wand. It had been kept by my bedside after the standard checks for tracking spells but I hadn't had much need for it lying in bed so even the smallest rush of magic that came with basic spells was like a breath of fresh air.

It wasn't long before I could sit at the table with a steaming cup of milky tea enjoying the quiet but even that had my fingers drumming spasmodically against the countertop. Keeping still was something I was finding increasingly difficult. My friends had noticed how jittery I was since returning but other than a few concerned glances from Hermione no-one had made mention of it.

I figured it was an acceptable reaction to finding myself free again after months of being confined. Growing up in a cupboard had already left me with a mild case of claustrophobia and my prison cell had only intensified my deep-set need for freedom. Sometimes I wandered whether that was what lay behind my repugnance for Voldemort's desire to enslave others. I knew what it felt like to be trapped and I did not ever want my friends to experience the same.

As much as I had wanted some space, now that I found myself alone all I could think of was my latest nightmare. I supressed a tremor and sought for something to think about to distract myself. My thoughts drifted back to Draco and where he was being kept.

With my cup now empty I performed a quick cleaning charm and set it back on the shelf, determined to go and find him. The first place I thought to check was the second floor, I had been secluded in one of the larger bedrooms on the third floor but most injured members of the Order were put on the second floor when brought back to base.

I climbed the stairs slowly, cursing my stiff legs and stopping when I reached the hallway to listen for movement or voices behind the closed doors. My hearing was not as sharp as it was but luckily Tonks appeared out of one the rooms, cursing as she slammed the door behind her.

She spotted me and smiled immediately, walking over and managing to only stumble over air just the once.

"Harry! Glad to see you up and about, how are doing?"

"Hey Tonks, I'm fine thanks, is Draco in there?" I smiled back, she thankfully only did a minor double take at my use of his first name. Looking back at the room she had emerged from she rubbed the back of her neck with an expression of chagrin.

"Yeah, I drew the short straw for guard duty today, I'm supposed to stay in the room with him but I needed a break. The Malfoy spawn doesn't exactly pull punches, he's just being snotty 'cause he's not allowed out, say's 'e was bored of looking at my face." She chuckled, clearly a bit fed up herself, I winced in sympathy.

"Mind if I talk to him?" I asked, she looked at me as if to assess whether leaving us in an enclosed space together would result in more damage than it was worth. I was reminded as I always was at the oddest times that she was technically my senior within the Order, it was easy to forget sometimes when she usually spent most of her time mucking about with the kids.

She breathed out, clearly having come to a decision as I tried to look as innocent and harmless as possible.

"Alright, knock yerself out, not literally though!" She said with a raised eyebrow, laughing as I grinned and thanked her.

"I'll be right outside the whole time Harry," she cautioned me as I walked up to the door, resting my hand on the handle for a second to collect myself. I smiled back at her and pushed the door open.

"Merlin, I thought I was actually getting some respite from your nauseating pink hair, can't you just-"

"Draco," I swallowed thickly,

"Oh, it's you."

* * *

A/N: Okay, I really don't have an excuse for the fact that I haven't uploaded anything for a year. I just fell into a slump, it happens I guess, but I'm writing ahead now so that this hopefully doesn't happen again, at least not to the same extreme. I've got the next chapter and I will post it within the next week to give me time to work on the chapter after that. I want to at least finish the fanfic projects that I have running at the moment so that if I need to take a break again, I can. Seriously though, to anyone who used to read this, I am so incredibly sorry that I fail so hard at life. On a brighter note, I'm graduating university on monday, yay free time :)


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Oh, it's you."

"Yep, just me," I smiled awkwardly; Draco was sat on top of his duvet with his legs crossed and a book in front of him. He looked better than he had the last time I saw him at any rate, his complexion pale as it had ever been but not unhealthily so. His hair, without whatever he usually used to slick it back hung in strands over his eyes and someone had put him in a muggle t-shirt and sweatpants.

He looked incredibly tame, which made it even funnier when his look of surprise morphed into a glare. I bit my lip in an attempt to hold back the urge to chuckle as if I were facing a cat that had been de-clawed and wasn't very happy about it.

"Well, what is it now? Have you decided I'm evil after all and they're going to cart me off to my own little dungeon," he snarled and the laughter died instantly in my throat, I cleared it uncomfortably realising that despite his appearance he really did still know how to cut to the bone.

"I know you're not evil Draco, no-one's taking you anywhere, the Order knows you saved me. They're just being cautious," I tried to mollify him, he huffed and dropped his gaze from mine clearly still grumpy.

"Do you know how difficult it is to pee when there's someone there watching you the entire time, Potter?"

Just like that the bubble of laughter came back and I bit down on my tongue this time, so ridiculous was the notion of Draco trying to go to the bathroom while an Order member loomed over him.

"Very. Very fucking difficult, they only started deeming it safe to wait outside the door last week! As if I could do anything without my wand anyway, and showers! Don't even get me started on trying to wash myself in peace when they always bang on the door every five seconds telling me to hurry up. I don't even care that there isn't any shampoo, I almost expect it of this lot, they wouldn't know conditioner if it were charmed to bite them on the arse. I do take offense however when they seem convinced that my penchant for long showers is actually a ploy to take down the Order from the inside, that I'm plotting something instead of washing. Who on Wizarding Earth tries to plot their enemies downfall in the shower?"

By the time his rant was over I couldn't hold back the peals of laughter, my arms wrapped around my waist as I bent double trying to suck in breath.

"I'm glad you find it so funny," Draco said, archly.

"I'm…I'm sorry," I gasped out, laughing a little out of embarrassment now as well as genuine amusement. "I'll, um- I'll try and get them to ease up a bit," I smiled and straightened a little, my chuckling tailing off naturally to leave us in silence. Draco was gazing at me steadily with a tightness around his mouth which could either mean he was disapproving, doubtful or trying to restrain himself from smiling.

Honestly, with Draco I had absolutely no idea, I had never really pondered any of his expressions or quirks, I would just see him sneering and generally want to punch him till he stopped. With Ron and Hermione I could tell exactly what they were thinking or feeling just from their face but Draco was completely unknown, I had to figure it out as I went along.

I mussed up my hair self-consciously, noting that Draco's eyes flicked upwards and followed the motion but without knowing what to make of it I let it pass without comment. He was probably just despairing over the fact that it made me look like a vagabond, much like Aunt Petunia once had.

The thought of comparing Draco to Aunt Petunia unfortunately only served to make me cringe inwardly as if I had just bitten down on cotton and then I was back to staring at my feet awkwardly wandering what to say. Draco seemed to notice the shift in the atmosphere and started to fidget, uncrossing one of his legs to let it to dangle over the side of the bed as he flipped a page of his book absentmindedly.

He seemed to rally quicker than I did though, catching my gaze resolutely.

"Also, Potter? I would appreciate it if I was allowed to walk around the house a bit as well, I understand I have to have a guard but I really couldn't be more sick of these four walls. As much as I'm sure I'll get glared at by every single person along the way I would really like to go and eat in the kitchen rather than up here."

"Harry," I stated in reply.

"What?"

"You've started calling me Potter again, I thought we agreed it I call you Draco and you call me Harry," I said, smiling nervously.

Draco blinked, surprise making his face slack. Despite the embarrassment of the moment I couldn't help but feel a little pleased that he hadn't yet managed to school his features so that his face was a blank slate. They had not been able to turn him into a good little soldier, following orders without qualm as his father had surely wanted. It made it easier for me to figure things out.

"I assumed you would rather we return to the use of our last names," he explained slowly as though unsure whether he were approaching a wild griffin or talking to an idiot. I grinned, back on steady ground. He was clearly doubting where we stood now that we weren't in any immediate danger just as much as I was. One of us had to be the first to extend the hand of friendship or at the very least thanks and I guessed it might as well be me. Especially considering that the last time it had, by necessity, been Draco.

"I think our first names suit us better," I shrugged.

"Okay, I guess I wouldn't mind at least one person knowing my first name in this place, it beats having 'Malfoy' barked at me with derision," he chuckled and the tension instantly eased.

We fell comfortably back into silence while I tried to figure out how exactly to say 'Thank you for saving my life, sorry your dad tortured you because of it'. Somehow I felt he would not react overly well and I really didn't want to end up pushing him away.

Honestly, I could use all the allies I could get these days but more than that I felt like Dumbledore would want me to become friends with Draco. He had told me often enough that it was the bonds of friendship and love that would prove my greatest weapon against Voldemort. Befriending the son of his right-hand man could only help the Order surely?

That was putting aside the fact that I now owed Draco a life-debt.

Not knowing how to start explaining all of that to the boy in front of me, I thought I could start with a small gesture.

"Are you hungry? We could go eat in the kitchen, Tonks shouldn't mind too much and there aren't many people about today so, um we won't really be bothered by anyone." I stopped when I realised I was in danger of starting to babble. Draco was looking at me from beneath his fringe and I wondered if the strands of hair in his eyes didn't bother him. His lips quirked upwards in a small smile.

"I could eat," he said.

"Okay, um, I'll go check with Tonks, I'll be right back," I shook my head minutely as I walked over to the door, unsure why I suddenly felt strangely bashful.

Tonks really was right outside the door, just as she'd said, in fact she was leaning on the door so that when I opened it she stumbled back onto me. I instinctively grabbed onto her shoulders, somehow stopping both of us from falling over but I still ended up with a very squished nose and a trodden toe.

"Ah, what the bloody hell was that for?" Tonks said as she grabbed hold of the door frame and righted herself before turning around and looking at me as if I had toppled her on purpose.

"I was just opening the door! Why on earth were you leaning on it?" I replied, standing on one foot as I reached down to test how bad the damage to my toe was. I winced at how tender it was and wished that I had thought to put on some sort of shoe before venturing out of my room. I had assumed it would be fine given that I would be staying within the confines of the house, apparently not.

"What d'ya mean 'what was I leaning on it for', I was just resting while I was waiting for you," Tonks shot back,

"Well if you were waiting for me, you must have known I'd be opening the door and this would happen,"

"I figured you'd be longer is all, didn't really-" she stopped, looking over my shoulder and smirked suddenly, "Oh so the demon child can do something other than scowl after all,"

I whipped around to see what Tonks was talking about but Draco, having been caught, was already glaring at her. I kind of wished I had been able to see what expression he had made.

At any rate I was reminded why I had gone to get Tonks in the first place.

"Um, we were wondering actually, would it be okay for Draco to come have supper with me in the kitchen?" I asked, distracting Tonks from the staring match she seemed to have begun with him.

She turned to me a little surprised.

"I don't mind, long as the both of ya are prepared if ya get anyone showing up that would rather this little shit weren't here. I'll deal with any serious threats o'course but it's your choice so your responsibility Harry, you're the one who's gonna have to explain it to the Order if somethin' goes wrong." She explained with a shrug, holding my gaze steadily as if trying to assess whether I would defend Draco if it came to it.

"We'll be fine," I replied resolutely.

"I'm gonna have to tell Remus when 'e gets back as well you know,"

"I know, I'll talk to him,"

"Alright, well if yer sure," apparently receiving the permission I needed I grinned and turned to Draco who had lost the scowl and now just looked apprehensive.

"Come on then, I'm starving," I smiled at him, tilting my head towards the corridor. He nodded silently and climbed off bed to join me, Tonks stepped back to let him go through first. I hoped he wouldn't be this taciturn when we were eating, he had been talkative just a few minutes ago. Maybe he was just less talkative around Tonks, it was clear that they weren't exactly fond of each other.

The walk downstairs was completed in awkward silence. I was left to walk ahead, with Draco trailing two steps behind and Tonks another two steps behind him. I couldn't understand their nervousness, the house had been pretty empty for the last two days, and I doubted there would be a sudden influx of people disturbing us.

Hermione was upstairs researching something and I knew there were probably one or two other Order members catching some rest in the bedrooms but that was all. Maybe I was underestimating how much people hated Draco and therefore how much trouble could ensue if someone did walk in on us.

Maybe I was just too tired to care much, I had already assured both Tonks and Draco that I would deal with anything that went wrong and honestly I had been looking forward to some different company. I was a little put out that Draco had decided to be so quiet now that his wish had been granted and he was allowed outside of his designated room.

I sighed as we reached the kitchen, pushing the door open and preparing myself for not getting a single one of my questions answered. Dinner would either be spent in heavy silence or just chatting to Tonks.

The room was as empty as when I had left it and to my great relief once Draco saw this he seemed to relax somewhat, walking past me and slumping down onto a chair and folding his arms on the table in front of him. I arched an eyebrow at him and snorted, having expected him to sit ramrod straight with his nose in the air the whole time.

"What?" He asked, "Not like I have anyone to impress here is it? Considering the clothes I'm wearing and where I am I rather think the illusion of being a respectable pure-blood is already shattered."

I turned away shaking my head and wondering when I had lost track of the number of times my former rival had surprised me in the past couple months. It only made me more eager to find out what had changed and when.

Tonks made herself a cup of tea whilst I looked for the cupboard where food was being kept under preserving charms. When I found it I was extremely glad to see that there was still some of the stew Molly had made for me the last time she visited. I had never met a person who did not like Molly's stew so hopefully it would do for Draco.

I took off the cover and pulled my wand out of my back pocket to levitate the pot onto the stove and light the heat beneath it. Putting my wand away again I pottered around the kitchen picking up a loaf of bread, some butter, a knife and a chopping board.

I grabbed a plate on my way over to the table and set about making a pile of thick slices of bread and butter. I could have done this with a few quick spells as well but there was only so far I was willing to use magic on food, it may have been my muggle upbringing but I felt like it tasted better done by hand.

Tonks came and sat next to me, watching me work in companionable silence and nicking a slice to munch on after a few minutes.

"So, ya bored of being fussed over yet?" Tonks asked slyly between mouthfuls.

"Kind of," I admitted "I get it though, they're just worried but I'm used to worrying about everyone else and now I'm stuck on the side-lines for who knows how long." I shrugged and cut off another slice of bread, if Tonks was going to be eating too then we would need more.

"Harry Potter getting fussed over, imagine that," Draco mocked, rolling his eyes. Tonks immediately glared at him and I huffed.

"Don't start Draco, we're just having dinner." I told him sternly, speaking of which I could hear the stew bubbling behind me and I finished buttering one last slice before pulling my wand back out and turning the heat off on the stove.

I summoned a ladle, a placemat to stop the pot from burning the surface of the table and a pair of oven gloves to stop it from burning me as well as some bowls.

By the time I had sorted everything out and started serving, Draco and Tonks were stubbornly ignoring each other and I was struck by the similarity of their stubborn expressions. I stopped with the ladle midway to one of the bowls, mouth gaping open at the sudden realisation that they were actually cousins.

It wasn't something I'd ever thought about, Draco and Tonks were such different people I had just never thought about the fact that technically their mothers were sisters.

"You- you two are cousins!" I said, employing my usual knack for stating the obvious. They both turned to me with sour expressions.

"You've only just realised?" Draco asked disbelievingly and I flushed knowing that it was kind of stupid of me not to make the connection earlier, "You really are an idiot," he sneered.

I flushed even harder but this time from anger as well as embarrassment, putting the ladle back in the stew-pot as I tried to hold back the urge to yell at him. Tonks put a hand on my arm and looked at me with a pained but sympathetic expression.

"We agreed not t' talk about it, Harry," she explained with a wince, "only thing we can agree on," she finished, shooting Draco a venomous look.

I breathed out heavily through my nose and sat down in my chair with a thump.

"Tonks, can you give us a minute? I promise I won't kill him and if anyone does come back and asks you why you left your post I'll take any blame like I said," I stated, holding her gaze directly. After a moment she nodded and stood with her cup of tea and walked out the kitchen.

I threw a quick charm over the stew to keep it warm and breathed deeply.

"I don't understand you at all Draco," I said, finally raising my eyes to his. He did not look at all apologetic.

I rubbed the back of my neck and tried again.

"I'm really trying to build bridges here, I owe you but I don't know how to go about repaying you because for one, I still don't really understand why you got me out in the first place. For another, you're being a complete arse."

"I'm being me, just because we're on slightly friendlier terms does not mean that I'm not going to mock you when you do something stupid and it certainly does not mean that I'm going to get along with my half-blood cousin." Draco replied heatedly, "If you're expecting me to turn into a good little Gryffindor then you can just give up now, I have my reasons for turning against my father and the Dark Lord and let me assure you it has nothing to do with morality or being heroic."

I blinked as he finished his speech and wondered if I really had been expecting too much, my own anger had completely disappeared in the face of Draco's.

"Okay, I can accept that I guess, but aren't you even a little curious to get to know Tonks, I mean differences aside you are family and it isn't like you have much family to call on these days," I said bluntly, knowing that if I could reconnect with any family members outside of the Dursley's I would jump at the chance.

Finding Sirius and Remus in my third year at Hogwarts and realising that I suddenly had family that cared about me was the greatest feeling I had ever experienced. After the devastation of Sirius' death I only grew to appreciate Remus all the more, I just couldn't understand Draco's flippant attitude to Tonks.

"She's garish and rude and annoying, why the hell would I want to associate with someone like that?" He looked at me again like I was being stupid, "I've learnt that family and blood don't mean anything, perhaps you should too," he finished with a sulky expression.

I had no idea what to say to that, my stomach twisted uncomfortably at the bitterness in Draco's voice. I sighed and decided not to push it, it wasnt my business really, I couldn't fix everything.

"Never mind Draco, if that's your opinion then I'm not going to try and sway you but could you at least fake graciousness?" I asked.

"Fine, but only if you'll shut up about it, as soon as they let me go I'm out of here anyway. I'm planning on getting as far away from Britain as I possibly can remember?"

I blinked, suddenly remembering that he really did tell me he was planning on going abroad once we had escaped. I had completely forgotten, I didn't even know how to react to the news. I couldn't help but think that if he left I would probably never see him again, he would go so far into hiding no-one would ever be able to find him.

"Oh, right, is that what you want?"

"Well obviously,"

"Okay then, if I try and make it so that you can leave for wherever you want to go, does that make us even? Will you take that as my thanks for helping me?" I asked, hands flat on the table and eyes not quite able to meet Draco's. My stomach was still in knots and I didn't really understand what was happening, what was being decided.

"Yeah, then we'll be even Harry," Draco replied softly.

* * *

**A/N: Next chapter will probably take closer to two weeks cause that one's not yet finished** **but hopefully it'll be no longer than that, if it does assume that I am stressing over trying to pack up all my belongings to take back home on a single coach trip. Merlin help me, I'm gonna have to get rid of half my things *cries* **

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please keep leaving reviews because they make me ridiculously happy, I would reply and tell you how happy but I've tried that before and I get so awkward and shy that its just cringeworthy so I'm just gonna thank you here instead :)  
**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"I'll talk to Remus as soon as he gets back then," I said decisively after swallowing back the urge to deny Draco's request. "That's all I can do, I'm not actually the head of the Order no matter what you might think."

"No, but you carry a lot of political weight, if you supported a decision in a meeting, just by lieu of your popularity and your importance to the cause other members are more likely to support you."

The fact that he remained so calm as he explained things to me only made me feel childishly angry at him. I was reminded once again how easily he had always managed to irritate me.

"Tonks, you can come back in now," I yelled to the door, deciding it might be better if there were another person in the room to focus my attention on till I calmed down.

"Well that's fortunate, I was starting to worry about what you might be doing to our guest that required hindering an Order member from doing their job."

"Remus!"

My weary-looking mentor ducked through the kitchen door with a wry smile on his face and an embarrassed Tonks following behind.

I flushed red at having been caught and glanced at Draco. He didn't look the least bit perturbed, in fact he looked expectant and I remembered the promise I had made barely a second ago.

I suddenly felt as if it might have been better had I just stayed in bed today.

"Care to explain yourself, Harry?"

"Sorry, Remus, I know I shouldn't have asked Tonks to leave her guard duty. It was irresponsible of me, I just wanted to try and talk to Draco a bit and figured he would be less likely to talk openly with me if there was an audience." I shrugged, trying to explain my actions without it coming across as making excuses.

Remus held my gaze calmly and I knew he was assessing how much of what I said was the truth and how much I might be omitting. Eventually he raised an eyebrow as if he knew that there was something I was omitting but he trusted me enough to let it slide.

He sat down with his customary sigh of relief at a chance to rest and I felt the equally customary twinge of worry every time I was reminded of the toll this was taking on him on top of his monthly transformations.

Draco cleared his throat just as I was about to get up to make another cup of tea for Remus, Tonks had plonked herself next to me so was apparently not going to make it herself. I rolled my eyes at him and got up anyway, I could talk and make tea at the same time and Draco could be as pissy about it as he liked.

"There was actually something I wanted to ask you Remus," I started as I set about using my wand to refill the kettle and switch the heat back on under it, reaching up to the cupboard for a cup because sometimes it was nice not using magic for absolutely every motion.

"Draco's asked what the Order plans to do about him and I wondered if we could discuss at the next meeting?"

"I don't see why not," Remus replied, "is there a reason you're talking to me about this when I'm sitting _next _to Draco?"

I turned around to see Remus looking between Draco and I, and Draco shifting uncomfortably in his seat but staying stubbornly silent. He looked up at me through the blonde strands of his hair and glared, I smothered a snort of laughter, I didn't think I had ever seen Draco Malfoy look so completely awkward.

"He, uh, thought if I asked, it would carry more weight," I answered, amusement colouring my voice and Draco only glared harder till I couldn't supress the bark of laughter from escaping.

"Yes, well, fine, we'll put it on the itinerary for the next meeting," Remus still looked a little bewildered at having to talk about someone as if they weren't in the room so he tried again to get Draco to talk. I turned back around to deal with finishing Remus' tea, the kettle having just whistled that it was done boiling. Draco was a big boy after all and if he could stand up to Voldemort and Death Eaters but not his old professor then there really was no hope for him.

"Is there a particular outcome you're hoping for Draco? I assume that is why you've asked for a decision to be made after all," Remus asked politely in his best concerned teacher voice, I smiled a little to myself hearing it.

"Well I was rather hoping that I could _leave _finally and get as far away as possible from Britain in the hopes of living a little longer. In case it has escaped your notice I'm not as suicidal as your little bunch of 'heroes'."

It was impossible not to hear the sarcasm in the way he said 'heroes' and I realised that before my imprisonment if I had heard Draco say something like that then I would have been at his throat immediately. Now I only felt vague amusement and an odd urge to roll my eyes the way I would if Ron were complaining about Hermione telling him off for something or other.

I couldn't even find it within me to be shocked at the change in my attitudes, it had been so gradual that at this point it just felt natural that I could treat Draco as a friend rather than an enemy. It made the reality of him leaving for some foreign country harder to bear but at least he would be safe.

I brought the cup of tea back to the table and placed it in front of Remus, I got a quick look of gratitude before he returned his attention to Draco, who was currently sitting with his arms folded across his chest protectively. Tonks was picking at her nails, reflexively making them longer then shorter then longer again, clearly bored with talking about Draco's future.

"I'll put forward the idea to the Order but I have to warn you there are some that may not be on board, after all it would mean that we wouldn't be able to keep tabs on you and you are a security risk. If there is even a chance that you might return to your father or get captured, it could mean the loss of many lives, you understand?"

"I understand, as long as you understand that I would willingly ingest a Blast-Ended Skrewt before I went back to that sick bastard and I'm not even talking about the Dark Lord. As for getting captured, I was very thorough in my plans to escape the Death Eater ranks, I have several safe houses set up and I know some very good glamours. I _know _how to disappear, they won't find me, I promise you that and if they do, well I've experience enduring their special brand of torture as well, I won't betray anyone here if it means their side will have a better chance of winning." Draco was looking so certain of himself by the end of his speech, his arms dropped to the table and his eyes shining, that I couldn't help but share his conviction.

Remus hmm'd, "Well we'll see what everyone decides and go from there," he replied diplomatically. He looked away and drank down his cooled tea in a few gulps before addressing Tonks.

"Nymphadora if you would be so kind as to take Draco back to his room now, I need to have a quick chat with Harry,"

"Honestly Remus, how many times do I have to ask you not to use my first name," the pink-haired witch huffed but she got up and waved at Draco to follow her anyway. I caught Draco's eye briefly before he left but I couldn't figure out what his expression meant at all and then he was gone so I just turned back to Remus and prepared myself for a tongue-lashing he had been too kind to give me in front of the others.

"Harry." His tone was firm but not quite disapproving so perhaps I wasn't in as much trouble as I thought, I still instinctively ducked my head.

"Yes?"

"You realise that even if you support this proposal there isn't much likelihood that many will agree to it? I'm willing to concede that Draco believes what he says from what I have seen but others won't, they won't trust a thing that comes out of the mouth of a Malfoy."

"But-"

"Harry, I know that he is not his father, you don't have to argue his case to me, I am just preparing you for what others will think," Remus looked at me patiently.

"Yeah, I get it, it's just I owe him my life and I'm pretty sure my sanity and if this is what he wants in return then I at least have to give it my best shot," I explained.

"Well Draco definitely won't be allowed into the meeting to argue his own case so you will have to argue it for him. Perhaps if you spoke about the escape, about how he helped you? You have only given us the essential details after all and some people are even muttering about how likely it is that you might have mixed some of that up. I know that you don't like talking about these things and it would be especially difficult in front of a group but it may be the only way, I wouldn't suggest it otherwise." Remus's voice was whisper soft with regret by the end but I still felt as if I were on the urge of a panic attack.

I stared at the table, eyes tracking the grain of the wood noting various burn marks and stains till my breathing had evened out. Remus reached across the table to clasp my shoulder.

"Harry?"

"Yeah," I breathed, "I'm okay."

"You don't have to, we can find another way of convincing them, we're not going to put your health at risk for this," his voice was firm and I looked up to smile faintly at him, feeling grateful for the millionth time that I still had him to rely on in all this. Even with Ron and Hermione, this war would have been much more difficult without Remus' support.

"No, you're right, no-one is going to understand why I trust him unless I explain it, let alone trust him themselves, I have to do this." Remus still looked as if her regretted ever mentioning but I felt sure of my decision, I had a debt to pay and if this was how I could do it then I was not about to back out.

"I'll be alright," I said, trying to sound convinced myself, Remus held my gaze a moment longer as if reassuring me he knew I was faking but he wasn't going to call me on it. He drew his hand back with a sigh and then cleared his throat.

"There's one more thing, Madam Pomfrey is coming in a couple of days to make a report on whether you'll be allowed back on field missions again, if there is any reason at all that you feel you aren't fit for field work, you must tell her, okay?"

"Of course,"

"I'm serious Harry, don't put on a brave face for this or you could end up putting others at risk and not just yourself,"

"I know, I understand, I won't hold anything back. I promise."

Remus sat back, satisfied, "Well, then, if you'll forgive this old heap of bones, I'm going to go for a nap before I'm back on duty," Remus smiled and got up, sending his empty tea cup over to the sink with a flick of his wand. Just before he left, I remembered there was another thing I was supposed to ask about.

"Oh Remus, wait, Draco wants to have a bit more freedom about the house as well, like going to the bathroom on his own and eating in the kitchen rather than his room and probably some other stuff. Aside from the bathroom visits, seeing as I'm not doing anything else I could take over watching him whenever he wants to leave his room if that's alright?" I asked.

"Sounds fine to me, I'll let everyone know," Remus smiled again and I smiled back, glad that this part at least was easy.

Then I was alone in the kitchen and I realised that I hadn't even touched my own cup of tea and neither had Draco touched his. I stared balefully at the two cold cups and tried to ignore the twisting in my stomach. I really should have stayed in bed.

When Madam Pomfrey stopped by the headquarters five days later, having been slightly delayed by other cases, I was sitting in the library with Draco. The place smelled so strongly of dust and dry paper that I was trying very hard not to sneeze every five seconds. Especially as the first couple times I had let myself sneeze, Draco had glared at me venomously.

He was probably used to old musty libraries in the Manor, I was decidedly not,

Draco it turned out left his room as often as possible so I spent an awful lot of time on unofficial guard duty. Everyone who was officially on the rota for watching Draco were more than happy to leave him with me, ecstatic even.

Since the changes had been organised I was pretty sure Tonks hadn't even seen Draco for more than two seconds, it almost seemed like they had organised it specifically so Draco was always already with Harry when it was Tonks' turn as guard.

Spending so much time with Draco had at least accomplished one thing, I was starting to sleep properly at night again without oversleeping in the morning and the more I moved about, the easier it got. The stiffness in my legs had eased a lot, there had been a strange moment on the second day of the arrangement when I had stumbled on the stairs and Draco had had to give me an arm to lean on but that was all.

Spending time with Draco had also meant being able to talk to him more, get him to open up a little. He didn't ever talk about his childhood or his family and we had both formed a silent agreement to avoid talking about Hogwarts, our former rivalry or the war. He did however talk about the things he was interested in, like the history and theory behind spells and the invention thereof.

Most of it went over my head, sometimes I asked Hermione about it but her explanations only confused me further. I wanted to get the two of them in the same room at some point but I figured it was still too early for that. There were also a lot of conversations about Quidditch and here I was more confident that I could hold up my end of the discussion.

Today though, Draco was reading and didn't seem likely to take kindly to any interruptions any time soon so I found a book on defensive spells and tried to memorise the more benign-looking ones.

It was Ron who poked his head in to tell me Madam Pomfrey was here, he glared suspiciously at Draco just the once which I took as a marked improvement. Draco of course just ignored him as always, focusing his gaze on me with an expression that seemed to be somewhere between, 'I hope everything's alright' and 'don't you dare leave me with Weasley'.

"Thanks Ron, can you grab hold of Kingsley? I think he's still about, if not just grab anyone, this shouldn't take long," I smiled at my best friend as he nodded his assent and shot Draco one last dark look before he won't off to get someone to stand guard for a few minutes.

Draco was still staring steadily at me and I turned to him with a huff.

"What?"

"This is to see if you can do field work again isn't it?"

"Very intuitive of you," I rolled my eyes, feeling prickly and defensive all of a sudden without understanding why.

"You know you're still not walking right, there's no reason for you to go rushing out risking your life all over again quite yet," Draco replied with an arched eyebrow looking at me for all the world as if I were about to go lay myself down at Voldemort's feet rather than going for a medical check-up.

"That's for Madam Pomfrey to decide I think you'll find," I grumbled, Draco continued to look at me disbelievingly which only made me more annoyed, "Stop looking at me like that," I snapped, "what do you care anyway? I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself in case you hadn't noticed."

"Well considering the effort I took to save your miserable life I'd be a bit annoyed if you went and got yourself killed quite so soon," now Draco seemed annoyed as well and I wondered how it had all gone downhill so quickly.

"I'm not _planning _to get myself killed but at some point I have to start pulling my weight again, I have enough people making excuses for me already, there are people risking their lives in this war every day. I'm not just going to abandon my friends!"

Draco's face went red, he seemed so livid and if I hadn't known any better I could have sworn there was worry beneath it all as well but then there was nothing. His expression wiped blank, his face still in a way that I had never seen before, I looked away quickly unable to see him looking so much like an emotionless soldier, so much like his father for even a second.

"Well, it's not my business if you want to carry on playing hero, that's what I got you out for I suppose, good luck with it Potter," I winced at the use of my last name and opened my mouth to reprimand him for it but then Ron came back with Kingsley in tow and I swallowed whatever I might have said and let myself be ushered out to see Madam Pomfrey.

* * *

**Okay, bad news: now that I've moved back home I have no internet for the foreseeable future due to 'circumstances' (don't ask, life hates me) and have to rely on wherever I can get hold of free wifi so updates are dependent on that (hence being late) BUT good news: with no internet (and being away from my friends) I have so few distractions I'm getting more and more writing done :) Hope you've enjoyed this chapter anyway! And the next will get put up when I'm next able to pop by the wonderful wifi dispensing coffee shop I'm currently sitting in :) **


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Considering that I was unconscious the last time Madam Pomfrey had seen me, there had definitely been an improvement in my state of health. It was also nice being able to thank her for her work this time.

She cast a multitude of diagnostic spells I had never heard of, we had seen the need to know a few healing and diagnostic spells very early on when the war had begun but we kept to basics. It was like having a first-aid kit as opposed to an entire hospital.

She made me jog on the spot as well and I figured I must have done reasonably well because Madam Pomfrey nodded approvingly before drawing out a small jar from her pocket and tapping it with her wand. She passed it over to me with instructions to rub it into my leg twice a day and telling me that she was going to advise Alastor that I would be physically fit for field duty in a week.

She stopped then and warned me that if I at all felt unable to resume field duties then I was to notify someone immediately.

"I've treated more cases of PTSD than I would like Mr. Potter, there are spells that can help and I will come back to headquarters to see you again if I need to but usually talking it out with someone helps much more than magic in these circumstances. So I want you to try and talk to somebody before the end of the week, understood?"

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey," I nodded, fiddling nervously with the jar of ointment in my hand.

"Good," then she smiled warmly, "I'm glad you're back on your feet, you gave us quite a scare Mr. Potter,"

"Thanks," I smiled back, running my fingers through my tangled hair bashfully, feeling my cheeks warm with happy embarrassment the way they did when Mrs. Weasley mothered me.

"Well, we're done here, you can go back to whatever it is you were doing before I got here while I go and see if I can find out where Alastor has holed up,"

"Uh, right thank you," I said again as she held open the door of the small bedroom we had been using. I automatically hurried back to the library, leaving Madam Pomfrey to head off in the other direction, so that I could relieve Kingsley. It wasn't until I was standing outside the door that I remembered my argument with Draco, having been too caught up in what I saw as good news.

Draco did not seem as if he was going to take it as good news at all. I sighed and fidgeted, wondering whether I shouldn't leave Draco with Kingsley a bit longer, in case he still needed to cool down.

It only took a minute to come to the conclusion that I was being stupid, I had learnt well enough from my friendship with Ron and Hermione that you just couldn't run away every time there was a disagreement. If I had made the decision to treat Draco as a friend then I had to follow through, I couldn't avoid him just because things might be a little uncomfortable between us.

That was a level of childishness that I had long since grown out of. I knocked briefly and walked in, spotting Kingsley immediately only a couple yards away from the door, leaning against a bookcase. Draco hadn't moved from his chair on the other side of the room.

"All sorted, thanks for covering Kingsley,"

"No problem Harry, I'll be in the kitchen if you need me," Kingsley replied as he bowed out of the room, I nodded my acknowledgment and shut the door behind him before wondering over to the sofa I had previously occupied. The book of defensive spells still lay on the arm and seeing as Draco had not so much as looked up at me from his own book I settled in for a very quiet couple of hours.

Draco was extremely good at the silent treatment, I thought hours later as I was heading to my own room to go to bed. He had managed four hours straight without saying a word and then he only stood up and said 'kitchen' so that I would take him to go have dinner.

He usually waited till late in the evening to avoid anyone hanging around but I wasn't going to complain that we were going slightly earlier given the growling noises my stomach was making. Kingsley was still there and so were Tonks and Ron so I fell into talking with them, trying to ignore Draco sulking opposite me.

He had just stood up and started to leave as soon as he was finished eating a little after me, I had to apologise to everyone and hurry after him. When we did get to his room he just slammed the door in my face without so much as a 'goodnight' and I was left feeling as disgruntled as he looked.

I sighed with relief as I pulled on my pyjamas and slid under my duvet, I almost just lay back and fell asleep but then I remembered the ointment Madam Pomfrey had given me. I crawled out from my covers just enough to reach down to where I'd left my robes on the floor and pull the small jar from my pocket.

The ointment unsurprisingly smelled foul but I pulled up the leg of my pyjama bottoms and rubbed it into my calf dutifully anyway. I wiped the remaining ointment from my hands onto my dirty robes, figuring they were going to be washed anyway. No-one had ever accused me of being too clean and tidy for my age.

Unfortunately the smell still stuck to my hands and it was incredibly distracting when I was just trying to curl up under my bed covers and fall asleep.

Frustrated with absolutely everything, I threw back my covers and got back out of bed to head to the nearest bathroom. I wasn't really expecting it to be occupied when I got there so it was a bit of a surprise when I found the door shut and the lock turned.

Frowning I cast a tempus charm, it was definitely just gone midnight, usually people were all asleep by now, catching what rest they could, or they had left again with new orders or directions to another safe house.

I was about to knock just to check who was in there when I heard a thump like someone had kicked the wall and accompanying cry of frustration.

I blinked, not sure what to do, either I knocked to alert whoever was in there to my presence in order to save them embarrassment, or I left and came back in a little while.

There was a reason I always got into so much trouble at Hogwarts though, I had more natural curiosity than was probably healthy so I did neither of the things normal people would do and instead just sort of hung around the door listening.

I could make the excuse that I was worried about whoever might be in there, there was obviously something wrong after all, but I had learned not to lie to myself. If there was something going on that I didn't know about or understand I generally wouldn't leave it alone until I did understand.

I almost wished Ron were with me to investigate as well, but he was in bed by now and Hermione had been out on assignment for a couple days.

I stood completely still, listening intently as I heard a tap start running and small splashing noises as if whoever it was were throwing water on their face.

"You pathetic idiot, get a grip, you're leaving, it isn't your place to _care_."

That, that was Draco's voice, I knew instantly and I suddenly felt as if some invisible hand were strangling me. I blinked rapidly, not sure what to make of what I had heard at all. All I knew was that it was definitely not something meant for my ears.

As soon as I heard the tap get turned off and the shuffling movement of feet, my heart rate kicked into gear and I moved away from the door as quickly as I could without making any noise. Luckily the staircase wasn't far away and I hid around the corner on the top step as the bathroom door opened and Draco came out.

He was just shutting the door when I came back around the corner as if I were just now heading to the bathroom. He rubbed his hand across his face, unguarded for a moment before he spotted me and his expression shifted back to what it had been all night, defensive, controlled.

I found myself regretting the change I had wreaked on him but unable to take it back I just carried on forwards.

"Hey, late night bathroom visit?" I hadn't really known a look could be quite so snarky until that moment, it seemed as though he were about to continue with the silent treatment but then his nose wrinkled and it was like he couldn't help himself.

"What in Merlin's name is that _smell_?!" I laughed, strangely and stupidly happy I had finally got a reaction out of him.

"Horrible isn't it?" I joked, though I was grinning as if it smelled of the best cedar broomstick wax, Draco was looking at me as if I was mad and I could only grin wider.

"It's the ointment Madam Pomfrey gave me for my leg, I just came to try and wash the smell off my hands at least so I don't die of the toxic fumes in my sleep," I shared conspiratorially.

"Well by all means, the bathroom is yours," Draco replied archly, the strands of his fringe were still slightly wet, clinging to the side of his face, there was even a small strand by his ear that had curled against his cheekbone. My grin faded, I was worried, so worried it felt like a punch in the gut, I wanted to curl around it, nurse the anxiety till it went away.

I swallowed, the feeling passing through me in a second, I looked back up to meet Draco's eyes and I realised he looked hunted, scared. I forced a relaxed smile on my face.

"Okay, thanks, goodnight Draco," I said as I walked past him to the bathroom door, trying to pretend everything was alright, normal, like I hadn't heard a thing.

I pretended I didn't hear him say "Goodnight, Harry," as I closed the door as well.

The nightmares that night took a different edge, it started out as normal, cruel high pitched laughter and the sound of my own voice screaming but then the scene changed and I was looking at someone's back as they walked away from me. I kept trying to call them back but they only got further and further away.

By the time I woke up in a sweat I had the distinct sensation of losing something but I couldn't remember what.

It wasn't until I shuffled down to the kitchen for some breakfast and coffee that I thought to cast a tempus charm to find out that is was already quarter to midday and nobody had come to get me to wake me. Usually by now Draco wanted to wander about somewhere in the house so he was unceremoniously dumped in my charge but not today apparently.

I hovered halfway down the last staircase to the kitchen and though back to our argument yesterday and then the awkward moment outside the bathroom. Maybe he had figured out I had overheard him and was ignoring me, but then there was no way he could know for sure. Maybe he was still angry at me for running back to the battlefield to die, as he had put it.

Luckily for me, I was still grouchy enough from waking up after my nightmare that I decided I didn't care, I was going to go and see and _make _him talk to me whether he liked it or not.

Just as soon as I polished off a bacon sandwich and got some caffeine in my system.

Hermione had arrived sometime in the early hours of the morning with Bill in tow and they were already catching Ron up with everything when I got to the kitchen. I grinned and hugged them all in a fit of sentimentality that I refused to attribute to my nightmare. Hermione seemed very pleased I was walking better and I warned her about the awful smell of my new ointment.

For a wonderful carefree hour it felt like having my makeshift family around me again, even with a few members missing. Once I'd finished eating Hermione handed me some files she said she was going to bring up to me anyway. Now that I would back to assignments in a week, I needed to make sure I was up to date on the progress of the war and what our current tactics were.

I took it gratefully, glad to have a project to work on, if it hadn't been for Draco I would have been bored out of my mind for the past week, being well enough not to need to sleep all the time but not well enough to do much of anything else that could count as productive.

I made my excuses soon after, desperate for a shower now that my stomach was sated and still determined to bother Draco into talking to me and not hiding in his room.

I had a brief horrible moment in the bathroom after I'd finished my shower and was wiping away the condensation from the mirror hanging over the sink. An image of Draco standing there, looking at himself in the mirror just like I was and calling himself pathetic. It made me feel nauseous.

Something twisted uncomfortably under my skin, I either wanted to erase the memory of his words completely or make sure that he never said them again. No-one should have to feel like that was something they should call themselves. I could say that much from experience.

Hermione may have been right in always saying I had a hero-complex but I at least knew that Draco's friendship had come to really mean something. If the two of us could put aside our differences, save each other's lives, then maybe there was hope for winning this miserable war. But that meant neither of us could fall apart, we had to look out for each other.

More convinced than ever that I had to go and see Draco to draw him back out of his room and mend whatever had been damaged the previous day, I quickly towelled off a pulled on the clothes I had already picked out. Shuffling back to my room, I threw my towel in the laundry hamper in the corner, picking up my dirty robes from the night before and throwing them in there as well.

I opened my cupboard to pull out a fresh set of robes to throw over my clothes, usually I would just wear my muggle clothes but it was nearing winter and the extra layer helped in this drafty old house.

Looking about my room I tried to think if I was forgetting anything, I had put on fresh ointment in the bathroom, the folder Hermione gave me was lying on my bed but if Draco wanted to go read in the library I could just come back and get it.

I ran a hand through my hair and tugged on the ends, making friends with somebody had never been so difficult before. I just couldn't figure Draco out at all, he never reacted the way I expected him to and I was starting to wonder whether there was something more that I was overlooking.

It was something hidden at the back of my mind like a repressed memory, dancing out of reach on the tip of my tongue.

It was getting ridiculous how much I kept over thinking everything I said to him, I couldn't figure out whether I wanted to shake him till something fell out or…

Or, I didn't know what.

I thought maybe it would have been okay if we had more time, if our newfound friendship had not begun under the emotional stress of Draco leaving his family and everything he had ever known. It might have been a gradual thing, slowly talking to each other more and more until we found something that was stable, comfortable, _normal_.

As it was everything was too intense, I felt desperate to make this friendship work and it was no longer just because of the life-debt that hung between us. It was as though my mind were telling me that if I could just make this one thing right, make something good come out of the horror of that dungeon cell then I stood a chance of making the world right again.

I fidgeted with the sleeves of my robes, it had to mean something that I thought that, surely? I had to make Draco understand that he had the chance to make a difference here if he stayed, if we could stop sniping at each other, if he stopped shutting me out.

I just didn't know how. Talking was not my strong suit never mind getting other people to talk.

One thing I was good at though, barreling into situations and making it up as I went along. I had learned well enough over the past few years that my instincts were pretty good, I just had to trust them.

Right now my instincts were telling me that I had to corner Draco and just not let him out of my sight until he told me what exactly was wrong. Why was he so annoyed with me? For that matter, why was he so desperate to leave the relative safety of the Order headquarters? That had been preying on my mind as well.

I just wish I wasn't so nervous about the whole thing.

Even walking to his room, determined to get answers and figure out why Draco was being so reticent, there was a definite jitter in my legs that had nothing to do with atrophied muscles.

When I reached the hallway where Draco's room was, Bill was stood opposite the door watching it like he was afraid a Blast-Ended Skrewt was going to emerge any minute. He raised his hand in an awkward wave when he saw me.

"I just took over the shift a couple minutes ago and he, uh, threw me out," Bill explained with a shrug and a grimace.

I sighed, Draco was definitely sulking.

"Sorry Bill, we had a bit of a fight yesterday, I think he's just in a mood."

"'A mood' might be putting it a bit lightly Harry," Bill replied with a sardonic grin.

"Don't worry, I'll take over keeping an eye on him," I assured him with a chuckle. Really I felt a strange wave of protectiveness for Draco, I loved Bill as much as I loved the rest of the Weasley's, they were family, but right then I felt irrationally affronted that he was judging Draco.

It wasn't even as if Bill was saying anything horrible but I was on edge as it was and determined as I was to try and help Draco that meant that he was, at the moment, my priority.

Part of me just wished it hasn't been so easy for my mind to jump on the defensive for Draco's sake against one of the people who had been a constant support the last couple years. It made me more sure than ever that I had to just get Draco talking until I figured everything out. Something didn't make sense, _Draco's _actions didn't make sense, not even _my own _actions made sense.

As Bill left with a wave and a muttered 'Better you than me' that had my stomach twisting uncomfortably, I turned towards Draco's door, jaw set.

* * *

**I have written and re-written this damn chapter and I'm still not happy but I think it at least makes sense, IDK I hope its not as awful as I think it is and I'll get to the good stuff in the next chapter, lots of angsty discussion of feelings/attempted angsty discussion of feelings while mostly just two idiots being emotionally constipated.  
Also I want to say a quick thank you to everyone who has favourited, followed, reviewed. Seriously this story has gotten more attention than I ever thought it would so um yay, its doing wonders for keeping me going and generally making me happy every time I check my e-mails :) **


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